


THE DIVINE 
STORY 



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CORNELIUS 

JOSEPH 

HOLLAND 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE DIVINE STORY 




Mary He called Mother, and Joseph He called father." 

[Page 28] 



THE DIVINE STORY 



A SHORT LIFE OF OUR BLESSED LORD 

WRITTEN SPECIALLY FOR 

YOUNG PEOPLE 



BY 

REV. CORNELIUS JOSEPH HOLLAND, S.T.L. 



ILLUSTRATED 



PROVIDENCE 

JOSEPH M. TALLY 

1909 



Nfljil ©tetat: 



3T3oa 
-HI 



J. F. O'MEARA, S.T.L., 

Censor Deputatus. 



Imprimatur : 



►!< MATTHEW HARKINS, 

Bishop of Providence. 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Conies Received 

MAK 19 1909 

„,. Copyriknt Entry , 
CLASS Ow Mc. No. 



Copyright, 1909, by Cornelius Joseph Holland. 
All rights reserved. 

Published March, 1909. 



t-0 



4 



CO 
MY MOTHER 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction i 

CHAPTER 

I. In a Stable of Bethlehem ... 4 

II. The Eighth and Fortieth Days . .11 

III. Three Wise Men 16 

IV. The Wrath of a Wicked King . .21 
V. In Obscurity 25 

VI. On the Banks of the Jordan and in a 

Desert 31 

VII. The Apostles 39 

VIII. At a Wedding Feast .... 45 

IX. In the Temple ...... 50 

X. Friends and Neighbors . . . -55 

XL Missionary Labors 63 

XII. A Paralytic's Faith 72 

XIII. Enemies 79 

XIV. A Storm at Sea 86 

XV. Living Bread 92 

XVI. In a Heathen Land 102 

XVII. A Revelation of Glory .... 107 

XVIII. New Enemies 113 

XIX. Brotherly Love 120 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XX. God's Mercy 125 

XXI. God's Compassion 132 

XXII. Hosannas 139 

XXIII. The Beginning of the End . . . 147 

XXIV. In the Valley of the Shadow of Death 154 
XXV. Arrested . 162 

XXVI. Tried 169 

XXVII. Condemned 179 

XXVIII. Crucified, Dead, and Buried' . . 189 

XXIX. The Third Day 200 

XXX. Alive Again 205 

XXXI. The Risen Life 212 

XXXII. Concluding Labors 216 

XXXIII. The Return to Heaven . . . .221 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

"Mary He called Mother, and Joseph He 

called father " .... Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

"When Jesus was twelve years old" . . 28 / 

"At this time Jesus was in the very prime of 

manhood" 40 " 

" Wherever He went, the blind saw, the deaf 

heard, the dumb spoke, the lame walked 1 ' . 86 

" It was Mary's custom, when Jesus came, to 

place herself in reverence at hls feet " . 1 34 ' 

"Jesus rises to His knees again. A heavenly 

LIGHT ENVELOPS HlM " l66 „ 

"Mary, broken-hearted, looks sadly up at 

Jesus " 196 

"Some One behind her said, ' Woman, whom 

seekest thou ? ' " 204 " 



THE DIVINE STORY 



INTRODUCTION 

Wherever one goes nowadays, — whether 
through the streets of his own city, or into 
the cities round about, or to far-off, unknown 
places, — he is almost certain to see some 
church-spire, rising gracefully above sur- 
rounding buildings, and lifting a gilded cross 
to heaven; for everywhere, at the present 
time, the people know and serve God, in 
spirit and in truth. 

But it was not always so. There was a 
time, far back in the ages of the past, when 
no one knew or served the One, True God ; 
but when, in every city, town, and village, 
the people adored images of wood and brass 
and stone, and served them, without shame, 
in wickedness and sin. 

The change from those dread days to ours 



2 INTRODUCTION 

was brought about by our Blessed Saviour. 
For it was He who, coming down to earth 
as Man, made known the truths about God 
and holiness, and founded the Church which 
has spread those truths abroad, and offered 
up His life as a satisfaction for the sins of 
all the world. 

The entire Jewish nation might have had 
the glory of being used by the Saviour as the 
foundations of His Church. For they had 
been particularly favored by God, — having 
received a true religion, and having been 
rightly instructed by teachers, known as 
Prophets, and having been given a Promise 
that the Saviour would come to earth as 
One of them. But they lost the spirit of 
their religion, put to death the Prophets, and 
changed the Promise of a Saviour to mean 
that a great and splendid King, whom they 
called the Christ or the Messias, was going 
to come to make them the most powerful 
nation in the world, and when the Saviour 
came, instead of becoming His assistants, 
they regarded Him as an impostor, and 
inflicted on Him His sin-atoning death. 



INTRODUCTION 3 

Hence the glory of acting as the foundations 
of the Church was obtained by just a little 
group of men whom the Saviour trained, and 
endowed with His own miraculous powers, 
and sent forth in His name. 

The story of how our Saviour did all this, 
— of how He came, and made known His 
truths, and founded His Church, and died 
at the hands of the Jewish nation, — is the 
divinest story in the history of the world. 
To know it well, is to be led to look upon 
our Lord, not as One who lived and died, 
ages and ages ago, but as an ever-present 
Friend, — only more winsome, more pre- 
cious, more lovable, and more generous than 
any merely earthly friend could ever be. 

It is in the desire that an ever greater and 
greater number of people, especially of young 
people, may be led to look upon our Lord 
in this sweet, familiar way, that the following 
pages have been written. 



CHAPTER I 

IN A STABLE OF BETHLEHEM 

Although our Blessed Lord came down 
on earth as a little Child, He had no earthly 
father, as other children have; for God, in 
heaven, was His Father. But He had an 
earthly Mother; and her name was Mary; 
and she was the daughter of Jewish parents 
of a little city in Galilee, called Nazareth. 

Mary was a real woman, like any other 
woman, with this exception, — she never, in 
all her life, had a sin upon her soul ; not even 
original sin. For, out of regard for her great 
dignity, she had been created Immaculate; 
that is, free from every sin, for that is what 
immaculate means. And she was very beau- 
tiful. 

But although she had been endowed with 
these most extraordinary gifts, Mary did not 
fully realize her dignity until she was about 

4 



IN A STABLE OF BETHLEHEM 5 

fifteen years of age. Then she learned of it 
in this most wonderful way. 

She was at prayer one evening, when, of a 
sudden, the little chamber where she knelt 
was flooded with a soft light, as of luminous 
clouds ; and there, in the midst of the light, 
stood the angel Gabriel, who said, " Hail, 
Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee : blessed 
art thou amongst women." And while she 
held her breath and listened, he went on to 
tell her the glorious news, — that the Promise 
which God had made to the Jewish people was 
about to be fulfilled ; that the Second Person 
of the Blessed Trinity was to be born as a 
little Child; that she was to be His Mother; 
and that she should call His name Jesus, 
which means Saviour, for He would save the 
people from their sins. 

At first Mary could not. understand how it 
was possible for her to become the Mother 
of God ; for, though she was still young, she 
had already, in accordance with the Jewish 
custom, become engaged, — her affianced 
being the village carpenter, a just and up- 
right man, somewhat older than herself, 



6 THE DIVINE STORY 

named Joseph. But the angel made haste 
to assure her that everything had been ar- 
ranged, and that her engagement would be 
no obstacle. So she meekly bowed her head 
and answered, " Behold the handmaid of the 
Lord ; be it done to me according to thy 
word." And at that instant, the Son of God, 
quicker than a sunbeam through the air, 
came down from heaven and took upon 
Himself a body in her most virginal womb. 

A short time after that, the angel appeared 
to Joseph, and, after telling him what had 
taken place, went on to tell him further, that 
though indeed he now could never be to 
Mary what he had hoped to be, he should 
nevertheless go through the ceremony of 
marriage with her, to act as the foster-father 
of her Child. And Joseph did as the angel 
commanded. He married Mary as if nothing 
extraordinary had happened and took her to 
live with him in his humble home. 

With the dwelling together of Mary and 
Joseph, it seemed as if everything was in 
readiness for the coming of the Child. But, 
no; there still remained to provide for Him 



IN A STABLE OF BETHLEHEM 7 

a birthplace. For though Joseph's home was 
humble, it was not as humble as the home of 
many another family might be ; and it was 
necessary that the Saviour, who was coming 
to be the Model for all the world, should be 
born in a place so lowly, that the child of 
even the very poorest of the poor should 
have to say, — " The Saviour came into this 
world more miserably than I ; therefore is 
He an example even for me." 

Accordingly, it soon came about that Mary 
and Joseph had to leave Nazareth and go to 
Bethlehem, — a little town about sixty miles 
to the south, — to have their names enrolled 
upon the census books there, for the taxes. 
When they arrived, which was late in the 
evening of the twenty-fourth of December, 
they found the inn crowded, and had to 
retire for the night to a stable-cave which 
they had espied as they were walking along 
the road. 

And that miserable cave was the place that 
God had chosen for the coming of His Son. 
For there, amid the straw that served as bed- 
ding for the cattle, in the silent depths of 



8 THE DIVINE STORY 

the midnight hour, our Blessed Lord was 
born. And His Mother wrapped Him up 
in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a 
manger. 

Thus the great King, expected by the 
Jews, came into this world, — not in a palace, 
in the midst of splendor and luxury, not with 
loud proclamations and the fanfare of golden 
trumpets, not surrounded by a retinue of 
attendants of noble blood, but in a wretched 
hovel, in the dark and cold of a winter's 
night, and with only Mary and Joseph and 
the beasts of the field to welcome Him. 

But what was wanting in His earthly 
reception, was more than supplied by the 
jubilation with which His coming was ac- 
claimed in heaven. For there, the whole 
great army of glorious spirits were looking 
down upon it ; and the moment it came to 
pass, they gave vent to tumultuous joy, — cir- 
cling round and round the throne of God, 
and singing as they soared, "Glory to God 
in the highest, and peace on earth to men 
of good will." 

And of this jubilation a glimpse was 



IN A STABLE OF BETHLEHEM 9 

vouchsafed to earth. For that night, some 
shepherds, who sat watching their flocks in a 
neighboring field, suddenly found themselves 
surrounded by a dazzling light ; and there, in 
the midst of the light, they saw a radiant an- 
gel who said : " Behold, I bring you tidings 
of great joy : for this day is born to you a 
Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this 
shall be a sign unto you ; you shall find the 
Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and 
lying in a manger." And then, the vault of 
the sky was opened, and they beheld the 
heavenly scene, — the glorious army of shin- 
ing spirits circling round and round the throne 
of God, and singing their hymn of praise. 

All the while the vision lasted the shep- 
herds sat transfixed. But when it ended, and 
darkness again enshrouded them, they roused 
themselves and said, " Let us go and see 
this wonderful thing of which the Lord hath 
spoken." And straightway, rising up, they 
hurried out of the field, and up the hill, 
— their sheep and watchdogs following them. 

When they arrived at the cave, they stood, 
for a moment, without, gazing in speechless 



10 THE DIVINE STORY 

wonder at what they saw, — the animals 
standing stolidly along the wall, the man 
and maiden bending low in prayer, the Infant 
wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in 
the crib. Then, softly entering, they knelt 
in adoration on the straw. 



CHAPTER II 

THE EIGHTH AND FORTIETH DAYS 

Those simple shepherds were the first of 
the countless millions who have since knelt 
in adoration of the Babe of Bethlehem. So 
their presence may be regarded as the first 
visible sign that the work of the Saviour had 
begun. He had taken His first step. He 
had become Man. 

His second step should consist in His be- 
coming a member of the Jewish religion. 
For the Jews had been promised that the 
Saviour would redeem the world, not by estab- 
lishing a new and independent religion, but 
by completing and developing the one which 
had already been given to them. 

Now, for a person to become a member of 
the Jewish religion, he had to receive two 
rites while still a tiny infant. First, when 
only eight days old, he had to receive what 
was called the Circumcision, — a simple rite 



12 THE DIVINE STORY 

that could be performed by anybody wherever 
he happened to be, and the occasion, like our 
Baptism, on which he received his name. 
Then, on the fortieth day, if a first-born, he 
had to receive another rite, called the Pres- 
entation. This consisted in the parents' offer- 
ing him to a priest, who took him, but gave 
him back again immediately, on receiving 
a small sum of money. It was a solemn and 
beautiful way of acknowledging that he be- 
longed to God, and should be brought up 
and cared for and trained as one of His chil- 
dren ; and it was deemed so important that it 
could take place only in a great church in 
Jerusalem, called the Temple. 

Accordingly, the Saviour now proceeded to 
receive these two rites. When eight days old, 
He was circumcised by His foster-father Jo- 
seph, and received the name of Jesus, which 
was the name that the angel had appointed 
for Him before He was born. Then, on the 
fortieth day, His parents took Him to the 
Temple at Jerusalem, for the Presentation. 

This Temple was the only place in all the 
land where there was an altar; all the other 



THE EIGHTH AND FORTIETH DAYS 13 

churches, called synagogues, being simply 
meeting-houses where the congregations 
gathered for prayer, and preaching, and Bible 
reading. It consisted of a main building, 
into which only the priests and assistants 
might enter, and three courtyards, which 
were occupied by the people. The main 
building stood in the most prominent place 
in the city, — on the top of a great high hill. 
To reach it, from the street below, one 
mounted by a flight of steps to the first 
courtyard, which ran all around the hill, like 
a great terrace, and which had been made by 
cutting in and building out the hillsides. 
From the first courtyard, one mounted by 
another flight of steps to the second, which 
was like the first, only smaller. Thence, one 
mounted by some more steps to the third 
and smallest courtyard. It was in the middle 
of this courtyard that the main building stood. 
As the Temple was the only place in all 
the land where there was an altar, its court- 
yards were always crowded with worshippers, 
for the people had to come up to it from all 
parts whenever they wished to offer a sacri- 



14 THE DIVINE STORY 

fice, or take part in any great religious 
celebration. Accordingly, Mary and Joseph 
encountered quite a multitude when they 
came up that morning with Jesus; but, as 
they differed very little, externally, from 
many another group which had preceded 
them on a similar errand, they received 
no special attention. So they made their 
way unmolested through the lower court- 
yard, and up the steps to the second, where 
the altar was. And there they made the 
Presentation. 

The ceremony over, they turned and 
began to make their way modestly towards 
another section of the Temple. But they 
had taken only a few steps when a re- 
markable incident occurred. An aged man 
and woman, named Simeon and Anna, noted 
for the simplicity and sincerity of their faith, 
stepped up, and, looking intently at Jesus, 
took Him in their arms, and began to render 
homage to Him as the King expected by 
the nation. 

To Mary and Joseph this incident came as 
a complete surprise ; for, though they had 



THE EIGHTH AND FORTIETH DAYS 15 

been told many things, they had not been 
told all. Realizing, however, that it must be 
part of God's mysterious design, they said 
nothing. And having performed all things 
according to the law, they made their jour- 
ney back again to Bethlehem. 



CHAPTER III 

THREE WISE MEN 

The coming of Simeon and Anna was 
indeed a part of God's mysterious design; 
for by it the whole Jewish nation had ren- 
dered homage to their new-born King, — 
Simeon and Anna having been sent, not in 
their own names, but in the name of all their 
countrymen. To receive the homage of the 
Jews, however, was not sufficient ; for the 
Saviour had come for all the world. Ac- 
cordingly, it soon came about that He re- 
ceived the homage of the Gentiles also, — 
that is, the heathen nations, — who came, 
in the persons of three Persian Magi. 

The Persians, like all the other heathen 
peoples, were steeped in idolatry and sin ; 
and yet, strange to say, in spite of that, they 
possessed, mixed with superstition, a faint, 
distorted echo of the Promise which God 
had made to the Jewish nation. It existed in 

16 



THREE WISE MEN 1 7 

the form of a short, mysterious prophecy 
which said that, at the sudden shining of a 
new and brilliant star, there should be born 
in Judea, the country of the Jews, a King 
who should govern all the world. 

Now, among the Persians, there was a cer- 
tain class of men whose work it was to search 
the sky, and note the movement of the stars. 
Astronomers we might call them now, but 
then they were known as Magi, which means 
Wise Men; for it was believed that, from 
the varying positions of the heavenly bodies, 
they could foretell future happenings of the 
world. 

Well, on the first night of what has come 
to be regarded as the year one, as three 
of these Magi were studying the heavens, 
they suddenly beheld a new and brilliant 
star. And, recalling the ancient prophecy, 
they exclaimed, " Behold the promised 
sign ! To-night, in Judea, the great Ex- 
pected King is born." Then, inspired from 
heaven, they added, "Since all the world 
must serve Him, let us go, in the name 
of all the Gentiles, and adore Him." 



1 8 THE DIVINE STORY 

And straightway they made the necessary 
preparations and started off. 

Judea was hundreds and hundreds of miles 
to the west of Persia, and many a stream 
and hill and valley lay between. But the 
Magi, urged on by inspiration from on high, 
minded not the distance nor the hardships 
of the way, arriving, at length, in the city 
of Jerusalem. Their reason for making Jeru- 
salem their destination was that the Jewish 
king dwelt there ; for although the Roman 
emperor had overcome the Jews, he still per- 
mitted them to have a ruler of their own ; and 
the name of the ruler at the time of which we 
speak was Herod. 

The Magi came, therefore, to the city of the 
Jewish king, confidently expecting that there 
they would find the King whom they were 
seeking. But God's manner of doing things 
is different from ours, and oftentimes while 
men are seeking Him in high places He is 
making Himself known in ways of lowliness. 
So their question about a King that had re- 
cently been born, only served to fill the people 
with surprise ; for the only king whom the 



THREE WISE MEN 19 

people knew anything about was Herod, and 
he was very old and near to death. But 
when they went on to tell about the prophecy, 
and the shining of the star, and their long and 
painful journey, it began to be suspected that 
they might be looking for the Christ, whose 
appointed time for coming was believed to 
be at hand; and the people's surprise gave 
place to joyful expectation. 

Not so with Herod. When he heard about 
it, he was filled with great alarm ; for he 
falsely believed that at the coming of the 
Christ he would lose his throne. To see, 
therefore, if something might not be done to 
rid himself of this new-born rival, he called 
his counsellors together, and asked them 
where the Messias should be born. And 
when they told him that, according to the 
Promise, He should be born in Bethlehem, 
he sent secretly for the Magi, and asked 
them when the star had first appeared. And 
when they told him, he said, with every sem- 
blance of good will, " It is even as I thought. 
The King whom you are seeking is none other 
than the Christ. Go to Bethlehem and you 



20 THE DIVINE STORY 

will find Him ; and when you have adored 
Him, come back and let me know, that I also 
may go down and render homage to Him." 
Then he dismissed them, deciding in his 
rjeart that He would put to death the Christ 
as soon as he could find Him. 

Greatly encouraged by these words, be- 
hind which the wicked purpose was so well 
concealed, the Magi descended the palace 
steps, and started at once for Bethlehem. 
Quickly they made their way through the 
city streets and out along the country road. 
But it was pitchy night and they must cer- 
tainly have lost their way, had not God come 
to their assistance. To reward their perse- 
verance, He caused the star, which first had 
lured them from their eastern home, to move, 
like some far-off lantern, lighting up their 
path ; and when, following where it led, they 
came, at length, to Bethlehem, He caused it, 
even as a searchlight, to shed its rays upon the 
very house in which the Christ was staying. 

Thus, at last, the Magi found the King 
whom they were seeking. And in the name 
of all the Gentiles, they knelt before Him 
and offered Him their homage. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE WRATH OF A WICKED KING 

The Magi purposed, on their journey home- 
ward, to pass through Jerusalem, and make 
known to all the people there, the successful 
outcome of their mission. But that night, as 
they were sleeping, they were warned by 
God of Herod's wicked plan, and departed 
into their country another way. 

In the meantime, Herod sat waiting and 
waiting their return. And when, at length, 
growing impatient, he sent to Bethlehem and 
learned the cause of their delay, his fear and 
anger knew no bounds. For he fancied him- 
self in a gloomy prison cell, loaded down with 
heavy chains, while this new-born King, the 
Christ, feasted in his palace and ruled his 
people, Israel. To see, therefore, if some- 
thing might not still be done to avert such 
a dreadful thing, he sat down and. began to 
think. And he thought and thought; and 



22 THE DIVINE STORY 

at length he hit upon a scheme. It was 
this: to put to death all the children of two 
years and under, in and about the town of 
Bethlehem. 

Accordingly, the soldiers came and executed 
this wicked plan. They slaughtered the little 
innocents wherever they could find them, — 
dragging them rudely from mothers' entwin- 
ing arms, slaying them brutally as they slept, 
striking them down fiercely as they toddled 
round at play. Not one escaped. And the 
town, which was noted for its simple peace 
and joy, was, of a sudden, plunged in wildest 
misery. 

I shall not try to tell you of the horror of 
the scene, or of the shrieking of the children, 
or of the wailing of the mothers; but if you 
have a little baby in your own home, you may 
get some notion of what conditions must 
have been, by picturing to yourselves what 
would take place if you had to stand by help- 
lessly while that brightest, sweetest treasure 
was put to death before your eyes. 

To understand how Herod could have 
ordered such a wicked deed, one has only to 



THE WRATH OF A WICKED KING 23 

know what kind of man he was. Never, prob- 
ably, in all the world, was there a more heart- 
less king. He seems to have had a thirst for 
human blood; and the story of his reign is but 
the long and gruesome tale of horrid murders. 
History even tells us that when his death was 
drawing near, he caused a number of the 
noblest Jewish children to be killed, in order, 
as he said himself, that there might be signs 
of mourning in the city at the moment of his 
funeral. Hence the slaughter of a number 
of helpless children was but a drop out of 
an ocean of wickedness that was in his heart. 

Complete and all-embracing, however, as 
his plan had been, it failed utterly to accom- 
plish the purpose for which it w T as conceived. 
For Joseph had been warned by God of what 
was going to happen, and early one morning, 
before the soldiers came, he had taken the In- 
fant and His mother, and departed for the 
land of Egypt, which lay about three days' 
journey to the south. 

Just what befell the Holy Family as they 
journeyed on their way, we do not know. 
True, pictures have been painted and stories 



24 THE DIVINE STORY 

have been told of how Mary travelled on a 
donkey with Jesus in her arms, while Joseph 
walked alongside, carrying a staff; of how 
lions went before them to protect them from 
all harm; of how fountains gushed, 'mid 
desert rocks and sands, to quench their thirst; 
of how wondrous blessings followed in every 
city where they went. But though these 
pictures and stories may be edifying and full of 
good instruction, they are lacking solid proof. 
And all we know for certain is, that Jesus 
and His parents arrived in Egypt; and that, 
after they had been there a short time, Herod 
died, and an angel came and told them to go 
back again to Israel. So they returned and 
came to Nazareth, which had been the home 
of Mary and Joseph before Jesus had been 
born. 



CHAPTER V 

IN OBSCURITY 

The settling down of the Holy Family 
at Nazareth marks the beginning of what 
has come to be known as Jesus' " Hidden 
Life." It was a period of almost thirty 
years; and it is called His "Hidden Life" 
because during it, with the exception of a 
single incident, nothing is related of what 
happened to Him. The single incident that 
is related, is as follows. 

When Jesus was twelve years old, His 
parents took Him with them to Jerusalem to 
attend a great religious celebration called the 
Passover. This was a feast held in com- 
memoration of the nation's delivery from 
slavery. For once upon a time the Jews 
had all been slaves in Egypt, and God had 
set them free. And ever after, when the 
anniversary of their deliverance came round, 
they celebrated it in Jerusalem, for a whole 
week, with great rejoicing. 

25 



26 THE DIVINE STORY 

To this feast, then, Jesus came with His 
parents ; and, during the whole week, He re- 
mained faithfully at their side, going with 
them to the Temple and to the public build- 
ings and to the houses of relatives and friends. 
But when the celebration was over, and they, 
along with a great company of neighbors, de- 
parted for their home, He remained behind. 
At first His absence was not noticed, for it 
was the custom, on such occasions, for the 
men and women to travel in separate com- 
panies ; and Mary thought that He was with 
the men folk, while Joseph believed that He 
was with the women. But at the close of a 
day's journey, when both companies came 
together for the night, He was missed. 

Filled with an awful dread, Mary and 
Joseph hurried back to the city. They went 
to the place where they had stopped ; but He 
was not there. They visited, one after 
another, the houses of their kinsfolk and 
acquaintances ; but neither was He in any 
of these places. With sinking hearts, they 
searched up and down the city streets ; but 
all in vain. He was nowhere to be found. 



IN OBSCURITY 2J 

At length, weary and disheartened, they 
turned their steps to the Temple to seek con- 
solation from Him who alone can lighten the 
weight of human misery and grief. And lo ! 
there was Jesus. Calm and serene He stood, 
in the midst of a circle of white-haired priests, 
discussing the deepest questions of religion, 
and filling all with wonder at the wisdom of 
His questions and His answers. With a 
cry of joy, Mary made her way to Him, and 
clasped Him in her arms, saying, "Son, why 
hast Thou done so to us? Behold, Thy 
father and I have sought Thee sorrowing." 
But He only looked at her and said, " Mother, 
didst thou not know that I must be about 
My Father's business?" This answer, added 
to the more than human wisdom He had 
been displaying in His discussion with the 
priests, excited the greatest wonder of the 
people. And no doubt they would have 
made searching inquiries concerning Him, 
had He not, like the simplest child, straight- 
way taken His Mother's hand and left the 
Temple courtyard. 

Such is the only incident which is related 



28 THE DIVINE STORY 

of Jesus' childhood, youth, and early man- 
hood. For the rest, unless it be for a more 
than ordinary holiness, His days were passed 
like those of the other children of the place. 
Mary He called Mother, and Joseph He 
called father, and He obeyed them both in 
all that they commanded. From them He 
learned to speak and walk and pray. At 
school He studied the tasks the teacher 
gave Him ; and, school hours being over, 
He played in the narrow streets about His 
home. Later on, when His strength de- 
veloped, He learned His father's trade, — 
going humbly to His toil like any other 
workman, and sitting down to His midday 
meal with Joseph in the carpenter shop, 
and returning, when His day's work was 
done, to spend His evenings peacefully with 
His Mother, in His home. On the Sabbath 
He went to the synagogue and took a seat 
modestly among the men, or fulfilled, ac- 
cording to the Jewish custom, any part that 
might be allotted to Him in the services. 
And thus, He advanced in wisdom, age, and 
grace with God and men. 




" When Jesus was twelve years old." 



[Page 25] 



IN OBSCURITY 29 

There are some persons, however, who 
regret that Jesus' life during such a long 
period should have been so ordinary and 
uneventful ; and, in their craving for the 
startling, they have invented miracles of 
their own, — about images of birds that He 
made out of clay which flew when He told 
them to fly, and stood still when He told 
them to stand, and ate and drank when He 
handed them food and drink ; about learned 
men whom He confounded with His knowl- 
edge when at school ; about pieces of wood 
that He lengthened out by simply stretching, 
when He worked with His father as a car- 
penter ; about sick that He healed, and dead 
that He raised to life. But such people err 
in not rightly understanding the full mean- 
ing of Jesus' life. For one of His chiefest 
reasons for coming was to be the Guide and 
Model of all mankind. And since by far 
the greater number in this world are doomed 
to labor and obscurity, this " Hidden Life," 
with its common duties and its pains to do 
ordinary things, was meant to teach, as no 
mere words could ever possibly have done, 



30 THE DIVINE STORY 

that lowliness and labor and obscurity, far 
from being, as many regard them, a sign of 
God's abandonment, are, when resignedly 
accepted, a special claim to His friendship 
and His love. 



CHAPTER VI 

ON THE BANKS OF THE JORDAN AND IN A 
DESERT 

And so, for almost thirty years, Jesus lived 
a simple, ordinary life at Nazareth. But 
then a change came ; and it was brought 
about in this wise. 

As He was approaching His thirtieth 
birthday, the whole land was set in commo- 
tion by a man named John the Baptist. 
Bareheaded and barefooted, with hair and 
beard long and unkempt, with features drawn 
and haggard, with deep-set eyes, strangely 
shining, and wearing only a garment of 
camel's hair, this man had suddenly appeared 
at the Jordan River; and, walking up and 
down its banks, he called on all who passed 
that way, to do penance and be baptized, 
saying that the coming of the Christ was 
near at hand. 

John's appearance, of itself, was enough to 
31 



32 THE DIVINE STORY 

inspire the people with enthusiasm ; but the 
chief cause of their excitement was his an- 
nouncement that the King was coming. For, 
according to the Promise, such an announce- 
ment should indeed be made, God having 
said, " I shall send My messenger before His 
face to prepare His way before Him." True, 
the Doctors, that is, those learned in reli- 
gious matters, had declared that it should be 
made either by a Prophet called Elias, who 
had lived and been taken up into heaven 
hundreds and hundreds of years before, but 
would return again to earth for this especial 
purpose ; or by some other Prophet equally 
easy of recognition. But the people lost 
sight of this important teaching; and, con- 
scious only of the fact that it was made, they 
went up from all parts of the land to do pen- 
ance and be baptized by John. 

Now what to the people was a yearning 
hope and blind acceptance was the truth. 
John the Baptist, notwithstanding the teach- 
ings of the Doctors, was indeed the person 
whom God had promised to send to prepare 
the way for the public appearance of the 



ON THE BANKS OF THE JORDAN 33 

Christ. Even before his birth, he had been 
sanctified for the task ; and to prepare for it, 
he had retired, at the age of twelve, to a 
desert, where, for eighteen years, He had been 
living a life of severest self-denial, — eating 
only what the desert had to offer, locusts and 
wild honey, sleeping in cheerless caves and 
by the side of great high boulders, and wear- 
ing only his garment of camel's hair. 

Jesus knew all this very well, but He also 
knew that, in accordance with the Promise, 
He should not take up His work in public, 
until He had made two preliminary steps. 
First, as a proof that He had come to offer 
satisfaction for the sins of all the world, He 
should Himself receive John's baptism, which 
was regarded by all as an acknowledgment 
of guilt. Then, as an evidence that His 
struggle with sin was not to be a sham, but 
a real and vicious conflict, He should submit 
to be visibly tempted by the devil. 

Accordingly, when, in the privacy of His 
Nazareth home, He heard about John's 
preaching, He went up with friends and 
neighbors to the Jordan. But when He 



34 THE DIVINE STORY 

walked down to the water's edge, like any 
ordinary sinner, to be baptized, John, who 
recognized Him, sought to stay Him, — for 
even John did not fully understand that 
Jesus had taken upon Himself the sins of 
all the world. But Jesus insisted, so John 
stooped down and took up water and bap- 
tized Him. And the Holy Spirit, as it were 
a dove, floated softly down, and hovered over 
Him; and a voice from heaven said, " This is 
My Son in whom I am well pleased." 

Immediately after being baptized Jesus, 
led by the spirit, departed from the banks 
of the Jordan, and withdrew to a desert, to 
be tempted by the devil. 

From the day of Jesus' baptism, John's 
preaching took on a new and clearer note. 
As a consequence, the crowds that came out 
to hear him not only grew larger, but a 
number of men even left their homes to 
remain always at his side as his disciples. 
Indeed, to such a pass did the popular ex- 
citement go, that the religious leaders in 
Jerusalem took alarm, and sent a delegation 
to find out who he was. 



ON THE BANKS OF THE JORDAN 35 

So, early one morning, the members of 
the delegation came, and making their way 
through the surging multitudes that sur- 
rounded him they plied him with their 
questions. 

" Art thou Elias ? " 

" No." 

" Art thou the Prophet ? " 

" I am not." 

" Claimest thou thyself to be the Christ ? " 

" I am not worthy to loosen the latchet of 
His shoe : I am but the voice of one crying 
in the wilderness, ' Prepare ye for the coming 
of the Lord.' " 

" Why then dost thou baptize if thou be 
not Christ, nor Elias, nor the Prophet ? " 

" My baptism is of water, and is meant 
simply as a sign of sorrow for sin ; but the 
Christ's baptism shall be of the Holy Ghost, 
and unto life eternal." 

And then, while the delegation listened 
in blank astonishment, John went on to tell 
them about the baptism of Jesus. 

Now John's account of Jesus' baptism was, 
in the judgment of the delegation, the most 



36 THE DIVINE STORY 

absurd of all absurdities, for baptism was 
an acknowledgment of sin, and the Christ, 
according to the Promise, was to be ab- 
solutely sinless. On hearing it, therefore, 
they returned to the religious leaders, and 
reported that John was but a dreamer and 
fanatic. And from that time onward the 
religious leaders gave but little heed to him. 

While these things were happening on the 
banks of the Jordan, Jesus was in the desert, 
to which He had retired for His conflict with 
the devil. As a preparation for that conflict, 
He had, from the very moment of His arrival 
there, given Himself up to prayer and fast- 
ing. But the aching days of fast went by, 
and the sleepless nights of prayer, and still 
He saw no sign of the evil one. 

The devil, however, had not given up his 
intention of entering the conflict. He was 
but waiting a favorable time, and when at 
length, forty days had passed, and Jesus' 
body had become utterly wasted from the 
fast, and His spirit had become worn from 
watching, he appeared. 

He began the attack by artfully com- 



IN A DESERT 37 

miserating with Jesus upon His sadly weak- 
ened state, and by pointing out that the 
needs of the body should be attended to. 
Then he urged Him to appease His hunger 
by changing the desert stones to bread. But 
Jesus, knowing that to consent to such a 
suggestion was but to place Himself in the 
power of His bodily appetites, answered, 
" Not by bread alone doth man live, but by 
every word that cometh from the mouth of 
God ; " meaning thereby that the spirit and 
not the body should direct the acts of man. 

So the devil, seeing that it would be use- 
less to try to tempt Jesus further in this 
direction, turned the attack to the affairs of 
the spirit. He took Him up quickly to the 
roof of the Temple, and placed Him on a 
pinnacle. Then reminding Him that God 
had promised to take care of Him, he urged 
Him to put the promise to a test by casting 
Himself down. But Jesus, knowing that it 
was wrong to rush rashly into unnecessary 
danger, answered, " We must not tempt the 
Lord our God." 

Thus was the devil a second time defeated. 



38 THE DIVINE STORY 

And yet he resolved to try again. For that 
is one thing about him, — when put to flight 
in one direction, he is always sure to appear 
shortly in another. So, knowing that Jesus 
had come on earth to win the whole world 
to Himself, he took Him to the summit of a 
great, high mountain ; and, waving his hand 
in a circle about, he said, " All the kingdoms 
of the world will I give Thee if, falling down, 
Thou wilt adore me." But Jesus, knowing 
that it were better to suffer the loss of the 
whole world, than to stoop down, even for an 
instant, to the evil one, answered, " Begone, 
Satan ; for it is written, ' Thou shalt adore 
the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou 
serve.' " 

And thus defeated a third time, the devil 
left Him for the present. And when he had 
departed, behold! angels came and minis- 
tered unto Him. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE APOSTLES 

At this time Jesus was in the very prime 
of manhood. In appearance He is said to 
have been tall and handsome, with a beard 
ending in two points, and with fair, wavy hair, 
parted in the middle and falling down in loose 
luxuriance upon His shoulders. Of this, how- 
ever, we cannot be certain ; for there is no 
very reliable means of ascertaining just how 
He looked. But that there was something 
striking about Him cannot be doubted : 
for He was the observed of all observers 
wherever He went ; and the pure and upright 
everywhere were drawn to Him with irresist- 
ible attraction ; while His single look was 
enough to melt sinful hearts to tears. 

There was nothing about Him, however, 
to indicate that He was the Christ. So, when 
His temptation was over, and He returned to 
the scene of John's baptism, where the crowds 

39 



40 THE DIVINE STORY 

were still gathering, though the wondrous 
light that His victory over sin had caused 
to shine from His countenance, may have 
attracted the passing attention of some, it 
caused no one to give Him any special no- 
tice. But the instant John saw Him, he 
recognized Him ; and leaning over to two 
of his disciples, he pointed with his finger, 
saying, " Behold the Lamb of God ! Behold 
Him who taketh away the sin of the world ! " 

And with these words, John's mission, 
which had been simply to announce the com- 
ing of the Christ, practically ended. For, 
shortly afterwards, he publicly denounced the 
king for unlawfully marrying a wicked 
woman named Herodias ; and, for so doing, 
he was thrown into prison, where, as we shall 
see hereafter, he was at length fiendishly put 
to death. 

And so, at last, Jesus was ready to take 
up His life in the sight of men. He began 
it immediately after John's testimony, by the 
selection of a number of men to become His 
followers. Of these, the first to be chosen 
were the two men to whom John had said, 




At this time Jesus was in the very prime of manhood." 

[Page 39] 



THE APOSTLES 41 

"Behold the Lamb of God." For immedi- 
ately, on hearing these words, they went over 
to the place where Christ was standing ; and 
He said, "Come, follow Me." And they 
went. Their names were John and Andrew. 
On the next day two more, whose names 
were James and Simon, were chosen. James 
was a brother of John, and Simon, of An- 
drew. But before Simon was chosen his 
name was changed to Peter, Jesus saying, 
" Thou art Simon, but henceforth thou shalt 
be called Peter." Now "Peter" means a 
"rock"; and later on we shall see why that 
name was given him. On the following 
day, two others, Philip and Bartholomew- 
were called. Thus the number of followers 
was brought up to six. 

In the course of time, that number was in- 
creased to twelve. Of the last six, two were 
named Judas; but one was always known as 
" Iscariot " because he came from a town 
called " Kerioth," — " Iscariot " meaning, " the 
son of Kerioth." He has also been called 
the " Son of Perdition " ; but of this, more 
will be said hereafter. Another was named 



42 THE DIVINE STORY 

James ; but his companions knew him as the 
" Little," to distinguish him from the first 
James that had been chosen, who was so 
large that he was called a " Son of Thunder." 
Another was Simon, and Simon he remained 
until the end ; for though he was intended 
for great things, like all the others, he was 
not destined to become "the Rock," as the 
first Simon was. Another was Matthew. 
He was the last follower to be chosen. 

He was a publican, that is, it was his busi- 
ness to sit at the place where the principal 
road entered the city and take tolls from all 
who passed within, — toll gathering being the 
means adopted by the Roman government to 
defray the expense of keeping the main roads, 
which were all military roads, in proper con- 
dition for the passage of the army. One day 
as he was sitting at his post Jesus happened 
to come along, on His way to the city, with 
His recently chosen followers. Now, to the 
ordinary Jew, publicans were men above all 
others to be avoided, for, on account of their 
employment by the Romans, they were re- 
garded as traitors. But to Jesus it was not 



THE APOSTLES 43 

so, — Jews and Gentiles, publicans and sin- 
ners, were all children of His Father, and He 
loved them. And besides there was some- 
thing of more than usual attractiveness about 
Matthew. When, therefore, Jesus saw him, 
as He was paying His toll, He looked upon 
him and said, " Come, follow Me." And 
straightway Matthew left the place where he 
was sitting and went after Him. 

As it was with Matthew, so it had been 
with all the others. In calling them Jesus 
had not used long arguments or given 
glorious promises. He had simply looked 
at them and said, " Come, follow Me." And, 
leaving whatever they were doing, they had 
gone after Him. It was the mysterious 
power of His presence that drew them, just 
as now, by His hidden charm in the Blessed 
Sacrament, He moves so many men and 
women to give up home and all the world 
holds dear, to devote themselves entirely to 
His service. 

Thus the very first work that Jesus did 
on entering His public life was to gather 
about Him a number of followers. His 



44 THE DIVINE STORY 

reason for choosing them so early was be- 
cause on them, as on foundation stones, He 
had resolved to build His Church ; and He 
wished to have all the time possible to train 
them for their mission. 

One would naturally suppose that men 
destined for such a work should have all 
those qualities which seem necessary for all 
great undertakings, — wealth and influence 
and eloquence, high position and great learn- 
ing. But these men had none of these things. 
They were, indeed, with possibly two excep- 
tions, simple fishermen, whose lives had 
been spent upon the waters of the sea of 
Galilee. But withal they. were young and 
strong and manly and straightforward men, 
and brave and loyal ; and so they were 
chosen, and received the name of "Apostles," 
which means, men who are sent. 



CHAPTER VIII 



AT A WEDDING FEAST 



It was now about two months since our 
Lord had left His Mother, and He was 
anxious to see her again and speak to her 
about her future and His own. So on the 
very day that He had finished calling His 
first followers, He started off with them for 
Nazareth. Their journey along the country 
roads and through the smiling villages and 
towns was a pleasant one, and was made 
forever memorable by the exchange of those 
first sweet intimacies that mark the begin- 
ning of every noble friendship. So it was 
with bright faces and hearts beating high 
with hope and courage and good resolve 
that, after three days' travel, they arrived 
at the little town. 

Quickly they made their way along the 
narrow streets to the low, white, flat-roofed 
cottage in which Jesus had spent so many 

45 



46 THE DIVINE STORY 

happy years ; and thence to the humble 
carpenter shop where, with His father 
Joseph, He had worked so long and faith- 
fully. But the jewel of which these places 
were but the precious setting, His Blessed 
Mother, was nowhere to be found. She had 
gone that very day, a neighbor said, to Cana, 
to be present at a marriage, and would not 
be back for several days. Thither, there- 
fore, they immediately made their way. 

Their arrival at the feast was the occasion 
of much rejoicing to the guests, especially 
to Mary, whom Jesus loved as the very apple 
of His eye. But not so to the parents of 
the bride; for they were but poor, country 
people, and the unlooked for increase in the 
number of their guests soon began to tell 
upon their wine. 

Now, wine in that country was as great 
a necessity as water is in ours ; and to be 
without it at a wedding would mean that 
the festivities must quickly end. Filled with 
consternation, therefore, the poor couple 
came and told Mary. This they did, how- 
ever, not because they thought that she 



AT A WEDDING FEAST 47 

could help them, but because she was a 
relative, and they must tell somebody. For 
a few moments after hearing the news, Mary 
sat thinking and thinking what could be 
done. Suddenly, as if moved by an inspira- 
tion, she arose, and made her way to the 
place where Jesus was sitting. And bend- 
ing over Him she whispered, " They have 
no wine." Then going over to the side of 
the room where the waiters were standing, 
she said, " Whatever my Son, Jesus, shall 
say to you, do ye." Then she returned to 
her place and sat down and waited. 

In the meantime, however, Jesus Himself 
had observed what was taking place, and had 
resolved to use the occasion to give His Apos- 
tles their first important lesson. 

Accordingly, a little later, He called them 
together and went out quietly with them 
to the vestibule. There, standing in a row 
along the wall, were six large stone jars. 
They had been filled with water at the be- 
ginning of the feast, but now they were 
empty; for, although the Jews did not use 
water at their meals, they made much use of 



48 THE DIVINE STORY 

it for certain queer religious customs. Jesus 
came over and peered into these jars; and 
seeing that they were empty, He turned 
and called the waiters. When the waiters 
came out, He said, " Fill these jars with 
water." And, remembering Mary's instruc- 
tions, they went and brought pitcherful after 
pitcherful of water, and poured it into the 
jars until they filled them to the brim. 
Then they stood with their empty pitchers, 
waiting to see if anything further might 
be required. Jesus said, " Draw out now 
and carry to the steward of the feast." 
For a moment the waiters hesitated, look- 
ing at one another. What was the sense in 
bringing water to a banquet table ! But 
then, recalling Mary's words, they came and 
dipped their pitchers in, and started for the 
dining room. Suddenly one of them stopped, 
and began to look sharply at some drops on 
the side of his pitcher. The drops were red. 
He raised the pitcher to his lips. He tasted. 
Then, filled with great excitement, he began 
to shout, " A miracle ! A miracle ! " The 
water had been changed to wine. 



AT A WEDDING FEAST 49 

The Apostles hastened to taste the water, 
made wine, for themselves. It was the best 
wine they had ever tasted ; and remembering 
that once upon a time, the nation's greatest 
Leader, Moses, had caused water to issue 
from a rock, they likened Jesus to him, and 
hailed Him as a Prophet. 

That was the effect of the first miracle 
upon the Apostles. It made them see in 
Jesus something more than an ordinary man. 
It made them recognize Him as a Prophet. 
Of course, had He but wished, He might 
have made them see at once, that He was 
something more than that, — that He was, 
indeed, none other than God Himself in 
human flesh. But He did not wish to force 
their minds too quickly. For He knew that 
to do so, would be to render them incapable 
of grasping the many important lessons that 
He had come to teach as man. He had re- 
solved to bring them to the truth, only little 
by little, — as the natural outcome of His life 
and miracles and wondrous discourses. And, 
in this method, the miracle at Cana was His 
first important lesson. 



CHAPTER IX 

IN THE TEMPLE 

Jesus' reason for returning to Galilee was 
to see His Blessed Mother and to speak to 
her about her future and His own ; and al- 
though He had performed a miracle on 
arriving there, He had never intended to 
make it the scene of His first missionary 
labors. These He had decided to reserve 
for the city of Jerusalem ; for that was the 
home of the religious leaders, whose duty it 
was to accept Him or reject Him in the 
name of all the people. Accordingly He 
now proceeded thither with His Apostles. 

It just happened that the Passover was 
being observed when He arrived, and the 
Temple courtyards were fairly swarming 
with pilgrims, who had come up from near 
and far to take part in the celebration. Now 
a pilgrim's first concern on such an occasion, 
was to offer a sacrifice. This consisted in 

5° 



IN THE TEMPLE 5 1 

bringing an ox, or a sheep, or a dove, and 
giving it to a priest who took it and killed 
it, burning part of it in a fire that blazed and 
smoked on a great stone altar, and returning 
the rest to be eaten. In the olden days, the 
pilgrims brought the animals of sacrifice 
along with them, or purchased them in the 
city; but in more recent times they were 
able to get them within the Temple court- 
yard, for the religious leaders had granted 
license to certain merchants to sell them 
there. This arrangement, however, while of 
great convenience to the pilgrims, had the 
disadvantage of turning the courtyard into a 
kind of country fair-ground, with lowing 
cattle, bleating sheep, and the loud wrangling 
of those who bought and sold. And prayer 
and devotion were impossible. 

Jesus had observed this condition of affairs 
again and again, when, year by year, He had 
come up with His Blessed Mother to the 
feast. But though He had always been filled 
with righteous indignation at it, He had 
never done anything about it; for His time for 
public action had not then come. But now 



52 THE DIVINE STORY 

His time for public action had come; and 
going over straightway to the market place, 
He overturned the tables of the money 
changers, — scattering the silver pieces with 
a clang upon the pavement ; and drove the 
traders from the courtyard, crying out, " My 
Father's house is a house of prayer, but you 
have made it a den of thieves." 

His action gave rise to intensest excite- 
ment; for by it He not only put an end to 
what the religious leaders had permitted, 
thereby giving them to understand that His 
authority was greater than theirs, but He 
deprived them of a very fruitful source of 
revenue, for they had made the privileged 
traders pay dearly for their licenses. Ac- 
cordingly from all parts of the courtyard the 
pilgrims came pressing forward, crying out 
to one another, " What does He mean ? " 
While a number of the religious leaders, 
known as Pharisees, consulting together, 
sent a delegation to find out who He was. 

Coming forward, and brusquely forcing 
their way through the throngs till they 
reached Jesus' side, the members of the dele- 



IN THE TEMPLE 53 

gation asked Him by what authority he did 
this thing, and what sign He could give as a 
proof of His authority. And the multitudes 
held their breath to hear what He would say. 
Looking calmly at His questioners, Jesus an- 
swered quietly, " The sign of My authority is 
this : destroy this Temple and in three days 
I will raise it up again." By these words, 
He referred to the temple of His Body; that 
He would be put to death, and that after 
three days He would rise again. But those 
who heard Him thought only of the Temple 
in which they were standing. And the 
people were indignant, saying : " What does 
He mean ? Six and forty years has this 
Temple been in building ; will He build 
it up again in three brief days ? " While 
the injured Pharisees were still more indig- 
nant ; for, to their minds, to speak slightingly 
of the Temple was equivalent to belittling 
God. And they said, " This Man is a blas- 
phemer." And consulting together, they de- 
cided that it would be well to keep informed 
of all that Jesus said and did. So they de- 
tailed certain ones to go and spy upon Him. 



54 THE DIVINE STORY 

After that Jesus went throughout the 
neighboring country preaching to the people. 
And every day the spies kept coming with 
their reports to the Pharisees in Jerusalem. 



CHAPTER X 

FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS 

The reports of all these happenings spread 
like ripples of ever widening circles, until 
they reached the very confines of the land. 
And everywhere, but especially at Nazareth, 
they gave rise to all manner of speculations. 
" What ! " said some who had known Jesus 
all His life, "the carpenter's Son become a 
Prophet ? It is absurd ! " But others, recall- 
ing His marvellous holiness, said : " Indeed 
there was always something about Him we 
could not wholly understand. It may be so. 
Let us wait until we see and hear Him for 
ourselves." And all began to look forward 
impatiently to His coming. 

At length, one evening, (it happened to be 
the evening before the Sabbath) He arrived. 
And the people might be seen talking ex- 
citedly about Him as they wended their way, 
in little groups, on the next morning, to the 

55 



56 THE DIVINE STORY 

synagogue, to which Jesus also went accom- 
panied by His Blessed Mother. 

The synagogue stood on the side of a 
peculiarly shaped hill which ended abruptly 
at the top in a very steep precipice. It was 
a plain building, made of whitish stone, with 
a flat roof and three front entrances. Within, 
at the farther end, there was a kind of raised 
platform or sanctuary. This sanctuary was 
without an altar, for there was only one altar 
in all the land, and that was in the Temple 
of Jerusalem ; but instead, it had a kind of 
pulpit or reading desk, which stood about in 
the middle. Just to the left, and slightly be- 
hind the pulpit, hung a long curtain with a 
lighted lamp before it. This lamp was there 
to remind the people that behind the curtain, 
there was a precious chest or ark, containing 
the Bible, — to their hearts, the dearest of all 
the sacred objects outside the Temple of 
Jerusalem. The Bible was written by hand, 
on different rolls of parchment, (for that was 
hundreds and hundreds of years before the 
art of printing was invented) and some por- 
tion of it was read at every service. The 



FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS 57 

body of the synagogue was divided into a 
front and rear section by means of a railing 
which ran across it. It was filled with 
benches, those in front sections being re- 
served for the men, while the women occu- 
pied those in the rear. 

At about nine o'clock, the congregation 
being seated, the service commenced. It 
began as usual with a prayer. This was re- 
cited by a man called the " Leader of the 
Synagogue"; the people, in the meantime, 
kneeling in their places, and answering 
" Amen " at its close. Then came the Bible 
reading and sermon. This was done, as a 
rule, by some member of the congregation 
conspicuous for his piety and learning. On 
the morning in question, it fell to the lot of 
Jesus. So rising in His place among the men 
He made His way modestly through the 
rows of benches to the sanctuary. Here the 
"Leader" handed Him one of the rolls of 
parchment which had been taken from the 
chest behind the curtain; and it happened to 
be the one written by Isaias, — the very great- 
est of all the Prophets who had spoken con- 



58 THE DIVINE STORY 

cerning the Messias. Jesus took the parch- 
ment and began to unroll it. This He did 
slowly, as if looking for a certain place. 
Presently, as if He had found the place, He 
stopped, and lifted His head, and looked 
over the eager, upturned faces of the congre- 
gation. Then, bending His eyes upon the 
parchment again, He read these words: "The 
Spirit of the Lord is upon Me ; He hath 
anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the 
poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to preach 
redemption to the slave, and deliverance to 
them that are bound, and to make known the 
acceptable year of the Lord and the day of 
reward." When He had finished, He rolled 
up the parchment and handed it back to 
the "Leader." 

Now the passage which Jesus had read 
was a section of the great Promise, — and 
one which, according to the teaching of the 
religious leaders, described, more strikingly 
than any other, what the Messias was going 
to do for the nation. For, according to them, 
it was the nation which was referred to as 
" poor, " and " broken-hearted, " and " en- 



FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS 59 

slaved"; and the "healing," and "deliver- 
ance," spoken of, were but scriptural terms 
for the glory and triumph which they de- 
clared would be ushered in with the reign 
of the promised King. So the Congrega- 
tion waited anxiously to hear what Jesus 
would say. 

Jesus began his sermon by describing the 
work that He purposed to perform in the 
different cities and towns throughout the 
land. This He did in words so beautiful and 
so unlike anything that had ever been heard 
before, that the people were filled with admi- 
ration at Him and began to wonder how a 
carpenter could have come by such knowl- 
edge and such wondrous power of speech. 
But as He proceeded, and it became clearer 
and clearer that He was applying the words 
of the Prophet to Himself, — that He was 
claiming to be the very Person referred to in 
the passage, — they became roused to fiercest 
anger. And one of them, unable to suffer 
in silence, rose up and interrupted Him, 
saying: "Your words are blasphemy. Do 
You imagine that we do not remember who 



60 THE DIVINE STORY 

You are? You are but the Son of Joseph 
the carpenter. We have known You all our 
lives. Your mother is here, and her also we 
know ; and she is poor and humble as the 
least amongst us. You are reported as hav- 
ing worked mighty things for people in other 
places. Do something for her. Make her 
rich and powerful, and then we may be 
willing to hear what You shall have to say 
for Yourself." 

To the other members of the congregation 
this was a most natural proposition ; for the 
Jews believed that wealth and position were 
a proof of God's favor, while they regarded 
lowliness as a sign of His abandonment. So 
a loud murmur of indignant approval went 
up from all parts of the synagogue. 

For a few moments Jesus looked calmly 
upon them. Then, lifting His hand for 
silence, He said, " You have a saying amongst 
you that a man is without honor in his own 
country ; and in Me that saying will be ful- 
filled." Then He went back into the history 
of the nation, and recalled that when God 
had sent Elias, who had been one of the 



FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS 6l 

greatest Jewish leaders, He had directed him 
not to relieve his own people, who were poor 
and humble, but a needy widow in the foreign 
city of Sidon ; and that, on another occa- 
sion, when another Prophet named Eliseus 
was sent, he was directed to work a miracle, 
not for the members of his own family, but 
for a man from the far-off land of Syria. 

But these words, far from placating the con- 
gregation, only infuriated them all the more. 
And rising up as one man, they began to 
shout, "He is a blasphemer! He is a blas- 
phemer! Not only has He hinted that He is 
the King that is to come, but He has even 
dared to intimate that the heathen and the 
strangers are more acceptable to God than 
we ; and w r e are the Chosen People. Away 
with Him ! Away with Him ! " 

Then, knocking over the benches, and 
shouting wildly, they rushed to the sanctuary, 
and laid rough hands upon Him, and dragged 
Him to the street. And, gathering around 
Him, shouting all the while, they jostled Him 
on and on, up the hill, to the place where it 
ended in the precipice. And they w 7 ere about 



62 THE DIVINE STORY 

to cast Him headlong over (for that was 
the punishment meted out to blasphemers) 
when, of a sudden, their cries broke off, 
half uttered, in their throats, and their hands 
fell motionless to their sides, and they all bent 
forward reverently, as if in the presence of 
some great Majesty. Without a word Jesus 
turned and passed back through the midst of 
them. Sadly He walked down the hill and 
by the synagogue and past the cottage, which 
had so long been His home, till He reached 
the opposite side of the town. Here He 
turned, and, for a moment, looked back sadly. 
Then, striking the dust of Nazareth from His 
feet, He took the road that led to the city of 
Capharnaum. 



CHAPTER XI 



MISSIONARY LABORS 



Capharnaum was situated on the western 
shore of a beautiful lake called the Sea of 
Galilee. Scarcely a trace of the town now 
remains ; and the silence of ruin and death 
broods over the place where once it stood. 
But in those days it was large and flourish- 
ing, with its water front lined with fishing 
boats, and fishermen rushing hither and 
thither, unloading their boats and washing 
their nets and shouting to one another. 

But its interest for us lies, not in the fact 
that it was large and beautiful, but in this, 
— that more than any other city in all the 
land, it is associated with the memory of our 
Blessed Lord. Not that it ever became His 
home; for, after His departure from Naza- 
reth, Jesus never really had a place of His 
own in which to lay His head. But that 

63 



64 THE DIVINE STORY 

from it, as from a centre, He went forth to 
carry on His missionary labors. 

His method was this: — leaving Caphar- 
naum, He went from place to place until He 
had made a circuit of all the towns of a cer- 
tain section of the country. Then He re- 
turned. Then, after a brief spell, He went 
forth again and made a circuit of the places 
of another section. And thus, He kept com- 
ing and going, coming and going, until He 
had visited all the cities and towns of 
Galilee. 

In every place He went, the people used 
to come and crowd around Him. And sur- 
rounded by them, He made His way to the 
synagogue, or to the market-place, or to the 
sea-shore, and preached to them. One day, 
when He was preaching on the shore of the 
Sea of Galilee, the crowd was so large and the 
struggle to get near Him was so great, that 
He was nearly pushed into the water; so He 
beckoned to Peter to bring his boat along- 
side, (for it was on that lake that Peter and the 
other disciples used to fish) and He stepped 
into it. And pushing out a little from the 






. MISSIONARY LABORS 65 

land, He stood up in the boat and preached 
to the multitude standing on the shore. Af- 
ter that, He often made Peter's boat His pul- 
pit. And in memory of it, the Church He 
founded has been called the Bark of Peter 
down to this very day. 

Sometimes the news spread beforehand 
that He was coming ; and crowds went out 
to meet Him. And when He saw them, 
He left the high road, and went up and stood 
on the side of a near-by hill ; and the peo- 
ple came and sat on the ground below. And 
as He stood there under the blue sky, with 
the bright flowers shining all around, and the 
birds singing sweetly overhead, He preached. 
Indeed, one of His most beautiful sermons 
was delivered in just that way; wherefore 
it has come to be known as the " Sermon 
on the Mount." 

It was about looking to God as to a loving 
Father. And in it, He said, " Be not anx- 
ious about your life, what you shall eat, or 
about your clothes, what you shall wear ; for 
life is more than its food, and the body more 
than its clothes." And He pointed to the 



66 THE DIVINE STORY 

birds which were flying overhead, recalling 
that they did not sow, nor reap, nor gather 
into barns, and yet their heavenly Father 
fed them. And He plucked a flower that 
was growing at His feet, and held it up, re- 
marking that it neither toiled nor spun, and 
yet not even Solomon in all his glory was so 
beautifully clad. And, at the end, to drive 
His lesson home, He said, " If God takes 
such care of the birds, which may be bought 
for half a farthing, and of the flowers which 
live but for a day, how much more will He 
not care for you, whom He has made to be 
happy with Him forever." 

As it was with this sermon, so it was with 
all the others. They were not the kind of 
discourses that we are accustomed to asso- 
ciate with that word, — loud and pompous ha- 
rangues, — but just simple talks, with lessons 
drawn from the common things around. 

They were not all, however, as plain and 
direct as the Sermon on the Mount; for 
many of the truths which Jesus had come to 
teach were so utterly opposed to what the peo- 
ple had been accustomed to hear, that, were 



MISSIONARY LABORS 67 

He to preach them openly, He would quickly 
arouse the fiercest hatred of the vigilant 
Pharisees, and be forced to stop before His 
work was completed. So to be able to make 
His teachings known, before the opposition 
should become too great, He preached, as 
time went on, in parables ; that is, simple 
stories, in which the truth was so presented 
as to be perfectly clear to those who were 
seeking it with uprightness of heart, but 
completely hidden from those who were 
listening only to find fault with it. 

The number and variety of His parables 
are very great; but, with few exceptions, they 
all clustered about one subject, — the King- 
dom of God. For the Jews were in yearning 
expectation of such a kingdom, (though they 
falsely believed it was going to have a throne 
and a court and glory and splendor) and 
they were always eager to listen to anything 
that any one might have to say about 
it. So, for example, if He wished to teach 
that the Church was going to begin with 
only a few members, and then gradually grow 
and grow, until it included all the world, 



68 THE DIVINE STORY 

He said, " The Kingdom of God is like to a 
grain of mustard seed, which a man took and 
sowed in his field ; which indeed is the small- 
est of all the seeds, but when it is grown up 
it becometh a tree, so that the birds of the 
air come and dwell in the branches thereof." 

But preaching was only apart of His work. 
Another part, still more wonderful, was His 
miracles. For, as soon as ever He entered 
into a city, the people ran and brought their 
sick to Him, — grown-up people on litters, 
and children in their mothers' arms. And 
He healed them, — some by a touch of the 
hand, and some by a word, and some by a 
simple look. And once there was a sick 
woman whom He cured by simply allowing 
her to put her fingers on His robe. 

For twelve years this woman had been 
afflicted with an issue of blood. She had 
been treated by all the physicians of the 
place where she lived, and had even called in 
those from places round about; and she 
had used up all her money. And in the 
end she was nothing the better but rather 
worse. 



MISSIONARY LABORS 69 

One day she heard that Jesus was in town. 
She knew that He had cured others, and she 
said within herself, " He will cure me." She 
was very weak, yet she managed with the help 
of friends, to get on her clothes and struggle 
to the door. And lo ! there was Jesus coming 
up the street ; and around Him, was a great 
multitude, all talking and making gestures. 
" If only I can get near Him," she said to 
herself, as she stood there in the doorway, " I 
shall be healed ; I have need but to touch the 
hem of His garment." All the time He was 
approaching ; and the multitude was making 
a great noise. The excitement of the moment 
gave her strength ; and as Jesus passed, she 
left the door-stoop and started to follow Him. 
First, she was on the outskirts of the crowd ; 
but little by little she forced her way through, 
till, at length, she got close behind. Then, 
leaning over, she touched His flowing robe ; 
just touched the hem with her finger tips. 
As she did so, Jesus stopped and turned 
round, saying, " Who hath touched my gar- 
ment ? " The multitude stood still. They 
looked at one another, but no one answered. 



70 



THE DIVINE STORY 



At length a disciple spoke. He said, " Mas- 
ter, the crowd is pressing and many have 
touched Thee." Jesus' eyes rested tenderly on 
the woman. And full of fear and trembling, 
she fell down before Him, and confessed 
all. Filled with pity, He said, " Daughter, 
be of good heart ; thy faith hath made thee 
whole." And understanding that faith in 
Him is life and peace and happiness, she 
gave thanks to God, and rose up, and fol- 
lowed Him. 

And so, going from place to place, preach- 
ing the good news, (for that is what the word 
" Gospel " means) and healing the sick, and 
bringing peace to those who were in trouble, 
Jesus made God known, as a God of love 
and mercy and compassion. For in seeing 
and hearing Him, they learned what manner 
of Being God is. For Jesus was in God, 
and God was in Him, and He was God. 

And everywhere He went, the twelve 
Apostles, His fishermen friends, went with 
Him. And as He walked with them along 
the country roads, or sat at noonday in the 
shade of the great trees, or gathered, like 



MISSIONARY LABORS 71 

shadows, under the starlit sky, — for they 
often passed the nights in the open air, — He 
gave them that special training which was 
necessary to fit them for the important posi- 
tions for which He had called them. 



CHAPTER XII 



a paralytic's faith 



Jesus' first missionary journey included 
only a few towns situated along the north- 
western shore of the Sea of Galilee. When 
it was over, He returned, according to His 
custom, to Capharnaum. The hour was 
early when He arrived, and few persons were 
stirring, so He made His way quietly with 
His Apostles, over one street and down an- 
other, until He came to a certain house. 
Like the other houses of the town, it was 
made of whitish stone, and had a low flat 
roof, which was reached from behind by a 
flight of steps ; for in that country the peo- 
ple used to live a great deal on the roofs of 
their houses, even sleeping there when the 
weather was warm in summer time. To the 
door of this house, then, Jesus went up and 
knocked. And presently some one came 
and opened to Him. And after a moment's 

72 



A PARALYTICS FAITH 73 

conversation, He entered with His com- 
panions. 

Just whose house it was we do not know. 
It may have been Peter's, for Peter lived in 
Capharnaum, or it may have been that of 
some poor, unknown fisherman of the lake ; 
for though Jesus did not scorn the rich, and 
occasionally visited them in their homes, the. 
houses of the poor were especially dear to 
Him. Often in the course of His missionary 
journeys, He drew near to such a one, and 
entered in, accepting the family's hospitality, 
and sitting down with them to their simple 
meal of bread and olives and rough, country 
wine. As He sat at table, He spoke to them 
about God's love and mercy and compas- 
sion. And when the meal was over, pushing 
back from the table, He gathered the little 
children of the household about Him and 
tenderly laid His hands upon their heads 
and blessed them. And when, at length, the 
time came for Him to leave, rising up, He 
bestowed on all His parting benediction, and 
continued on His way. And as He went, the 
family gathered at the door to look after Him. 



74 THE DIVINE STORY 

And as they stood there watching Him dis- 
appearing in the distance, they said to one 
another, " What made our hearts so burn 
within us as we listened to His words? surely 
His coming has brought with it a blessing 
that will remain with us forever." 

On the morning in question, however, He 
was not allowed thus quietly to come and 
go; for the fame of His missionary labors 
had preceded Him, and the report having 
spread abroad that He was in the house, 
there began to arrive a steady stream of peo- 
ple, — hostile spies of the Pharisees, innocent 
little boys and girls, old men bowed down 
with the weight of toil, women in robes of 
blue and white, with babies in their arms, 
cripples on crutches, and sick on litters 
carried by their friends. So He began to 
preach ; and, as usual, His sermon was about 
the Kingdom of God, — how sin alone 
could prevent a person from entering into 
it, and how it was better for a man to lose 
hands and feet and eyes than be forced to 
remain outside. 

Now, among the sick who had arrived 



A PARALYTICS FAITH 75 

there was one who was a paralytic. He had 
come in the belief that if Jesus would but 
lay His hand upon him, he would be cured. 
But, having arrived late, he could not get 
near to Jesus, for the crowd was great ; so he 
lay on his blanket, which four friends were 
holding by the corners, away out on the 
outskirts of the crowd. 

For some time he remained motionless, — 
his eyes closed, his face pinched and ashen, 
his head hanging over feebly to one side, his 
forehead covered with beads of sweat. But 
of a sudden, he became animated, and said 
something in an eager manner to those 
who carried him. Presently, as if in obedi- 
ence to his words, they left the place where 
they were standing, and made their way 
around the crowd, and behind the house, 
to the place where the stairs led up to the 
roof. And they began to climb the stairs, 
— the two at the head, going up backwards, 
holding the blanket down low, while the two 
at the feet went up upright, holding it high 
above their heads. 

As soon as they reached the roof, the peo- 



76 THE DIVINE STORY 

pie in the street caught sight of them, and 
began to point up, and watch them. First 
they made their way over to a corner, and 
laid the sick man down upon his blanket. 
Then they came back to a place, just over 
the room where Jesus was sitting, and made 
a hole by removing the tiles, — an easy task, 
for the roofs of the houses, in that country, 
were loosely put together. Then they came 
and picked up the sick man, and brought him 
to the hole, and began to let him down, 
holding the blanket by the corners. The 
people below, in the meantime, had all been 
talking and looking up and wondering. They 
could not understand why a hole was being 
made in the roof. But when they saw the 
sick man descending, they understood ; and, 
raising their hands, they took him on his 
blanket, and laid him at Jesus' feet. 

In an instant all was quiet, and every- 
body began to look at Jesus, wondering 
what He would do. But He only sat there, 
looking down in silence at the sick man. 
He looked and looked. Presently the para- 
lytic began to grow uneasy under the gaze. 



A PARALYTICS FAITH JJ 

Somehow or other it made him think of his 
sins, — the sins that he had committed when 
he was well and strong. As to a man at the 
moment of drowning, they all came up before 
him. And filled with shame and sorrow, he 
turned his head away. This sign of repent- 
ance caused a strange light to come into 
Jesus' eyes, and He said, " My son, be of good 
heart ; thy sins are forgiven thee." 

Instantly, at these words, all became con- 
fusion; for never before in the history of 
the world had it been known that a man 
had said that he could forgive sins. And 
the spies, more indignant than the rest, began 
to protest, saying: "What does the Man 
mean ? Would He have us understand that 
He can forgive sin ? No one can forgive 
sin but God. He is a blasphemer." Jesus 
looked and looked at them, but said nothing. 
But when they had become silent, He said 
calmly, " Why do you think evil in your 
hearts? Which is easier to say, — thy sins 
are forgiven, or arise and walk?" They 
looked at one another, but did not answer. 
He continued, " That you may know that I 



78 THE DIVINE STORY 

have indeed the power of forgiving sin, be- 
hold." And turning to the man lying at 
His feet, He said, " Young man, arise ; take 
up your bed and walk." And straightway 
the paralytic arose and took up his blanket 
and began to walk ; for he was cured. 

Now, Jesus wrought this miracle as a mani- 
fest proof that He had the power to forgive 
sin ; and as such many of the onlookers 
accepted it, saying, " We have seen wonder- 
ful things this day." But not so the spies. 
To them it came rather as a proof of His 
association with the evil one. And crying 
out, " He is a blasphemer ; the devil gives 
Him power to do these things," they left the 
house, and started immediately for Jerusalem 
to tell their masters, the Pharisees. And 
when the Pharisees heard about it, and 
especially when they heard that the people 
believed in it, they became furious. And 
consulting together, they decided to put an 
end to Jesus' influence. 



CHAPTER XIII 

ENEMIES 

It seems to us very strange and sad that 
leaders in religion should decide to put 
an end to the influence of One who was 
so good and kind and merciful. But so it 
was. The poor, the weak, the sinful, the 
simple-hearted, and the people of no account 
loved Jesus, and believed in Him, and went 
after Him ; while those who held the highest 
places in the Church, or at least those of 
them who were known as Pharisees, became 
embittered, and decided to put Him down. 

It must not be concluded, however, that the 
Pharisees were what are called "bad" people. 
They had never done anything for which per- 
sons are usually lodged in jail. On the con- 
trary, they went to church regularly, fasted 
often, gave alms liberally, kept the command- 
ments, and even observed a multitude of rules 

79 



80 THE DIVINE STORY 

and ceremonies about the Sabbath, and eat- 
ing at table, and the like, that certain ones 
among them, called Scribes, had drawn up. 
Indeed, it was their very religiousness that 
secured for them their high positions. They 
were the nation's models of holiness. 

Yet they were not good ; for their acts of 
religion were done, not to please God, but 
to win the praise and admiration of men. 
Hence when they prayed, they did it osten- 
tatiously, in public places ; when they fasted, 
they disfigured their faces so that men might 
know it ; when they gave alms, they sounded 
a trumpet so as to announce it publicly; 
when they observed the commandments, 
they were careful only as regards the out- 
ward action ; and for the sake of their rules 
and ceremonies, whose observance could be 
seen, they often set aside justice, and mercy, 
and faith, which are things of the heart. 
Thus, just as many a walnut of fine out- 
ward appearance is found, when cracked 
open, to be a worthless shell, so their holi- 
ness, though seemingly all that could be 
desired, was really empty and valueless. The 



ENEMIES 8 1 

people, however, were incapable of appreci- 
ating this, for their idea of true holiness had 
become confused. So they regarded the 
Pharisees as models, and accepted them as 
leaders. 

And that was the condition of affairs when 
Jesus came. But since one of the principal 
reasons for His coming was to teach true 
holiness, according to which we might be 
able to please our heavenly Father, He 
proceeded, from the very beginning of His 
ministry, to expose the worthlessness of the 
holiness of the Pharisees. 

He took up their practices of prayer, and 
fasting, and almsgiving, and showed that 
such things to be real marks of goodness 
must be done, not ostentatiously, but, as far 
as possible, in secret, that God, who sees in 
secret, may repay. He took up their manner 
of observing different commandments, and 
showed that the observance of a command- 
ment, to be of any value in God's sight, must 
be a matter, not of the eyes and lips and 
hands, but of the heart ; that, for example, 
according to the fifth commandment, one 



82 THE DIVINE STORY 

should not only not do open violence, but 
he should not even become angry. And 
finally, He took up the rules and ceremonies 
of the Scribes, and declared that whenever, 
for the sake of observing human laws, a per- 
son neglected the more important things of 
justice, and mercy, and faith, far from pleas- 
ing God, he was sinning against Him. 

Jesus' teaching on these matters, however, 
was not all given at one time, nor in one place; 
but little by little, some here, some there, 
and all mingled with many other beautiful 
teachings on faith, and love, and unselfish- 
ness, and meekness, and purity, and the other 
virtues which he had come on earth to make 
known. Consequently the Pharisees did not 
see the force of it for some time. But when, 
at length, they did, they were filled with 
alarm; for they saw that if it was accepted, 
they could no longer be regarded as models ; 
and that with the loss of their character of 
models, must vanish also their positions and 
influence; for one depended on the other. 
And rather than face such a prospect, they 
decided to put Jesus down. And with that 



ENEMIES 83 

decision began a struggle which ended, as 
we shall see, in Jesus' death. 

The influence of the Pharisees, however, 
though felt throughout all the land, was great- 
est in the city of Jerusalem. Hence they de- 
cided to refrain from taking their first active 
steps against Jesus until He should come to 
the feast of the Passover, which was then 
quite near at hand. 

From the very moment of His arrival, 
therefore, they watched Him to see if they 
might not find Him doing something for 
which they might accuse Him to the peo- 
ple. But it was not until the third day that 
their opportunity came. 

It was of a Sabbath, and Jesus was making 
His way to the Temple when, on turning a 
corner, He saw a paralytic lying on a bed, by 
the side of a pool of water. Coming over to 
him, He said tenderly, " My good man, why 
are you lying here ? " " Friends have brought 
me hither," the paralytic said, looking up sadly 
into His face, "in the hope that a bath in 
these waters might make me well; for they 
have miraculous powers, and many persons 



84 THE DIVINE STORY 

have been cured in them. But though I have 
come again and again, and have been washed 
repeatedly, I am not better, but rather worse. 
And it is now thirty-eight years since I was 
first afBicted with my infirmity." At the 
sight of the man's misery, and at the note of 
hopeless sadness in his words, Jesus was 
filled with pity; and He said: "Be of good 
heart ; I will cure you. Take up your bed 
and walk." And filled with a strange confi- 
dence, the man proceeded to do as he was 
bid. He arose, took up his bed, and began 
to walk. 

Now one would naturally think that such 
a miracle of mercy would fill the hearts of 
all who heard of it, with love and gratitude. 
But alas ! such was not the case. For one 
of the most important regulations of the 
Scribes was that nothing, absolutely nothing, 
should be carried about on the Sabbath day. 
So, when the Pharisees learned that Jesus had 
commanded the man to carry his bed, they 
were filled with anger. And rushing over to 
where He stood, they began to accuse Him 
wildly to the people, whom they had led to 



ENEMIES 85 

accept their foolish teachings. And they 
were so greatly enraged that very likely they 
would have done Him bodily injury, had He 
not mysteriously disappeared from the Tem- 
ple, and returned at once to Galilee. 



CHAPTER XIV 



A STORM AT SEA 



Jesus' return to Galilee marks the begin- 
ning of an especially active period of his life. 
Wherever He went, the blind saw, the deaf 
heard, the dumb spoke, the lame walked, the 
lepers became clean, and even the dead came 
back to life. Of this last wonder, the most 
remarkable instance, perhaps, occurred near 
a little city called Nairn. 

Jesus was on His way there with His 
Apostles, when, as He was nearing the gate 
of the city, there slowly emerged four men, 
bearing on their shoulders a bier, on which 
lay a dead youth, covered with a winding 
sheet; then came a poor, aged woman, all 
alone; and, after her, a little straggling 
group of mourners. It was a funeral pro- 
cession ; and a single glance revealed to Jesus 
that it was an only son that was dead, and 
that his mother was a widow ; and, filled with 

86 




Wherever He went, the blind saw, the deaf heard, the dumb 
spoke, the lame walked." 



[Page 86] 



A STORM AT SEA 8? 

pity, He stood reverently to one side to allow 
the procession to pass ; for the graveyard 
was a little farther back on the road along 
which He had come. 

Slowly the procession moved along. First 
the men bearing the bier went past ; then the 
poor widow. She was clothed in mourning; 
her body was bent ; her face was in her hands ; 
she was shaking with dry, convulsing sobs. 
Jesus' eyes filled with tears as He watched 
her. And suddenly, as if unable any longer 
to endure the sight of her great grief, He 
stepped up to her and said tenderly, " Woman, 
cease thy weeping." And then, before she 
could realize what He meant, He went for- 
ward and touched the bier, saying, " Young 
man, arise." And he that was dead sat up. 
And Jesus gave him to his mother. 

But not only His miracles gave evidence 
of an added power; but His sermons as well. 
In them more than ever He insisted on 
adoring God in spirit and in truth. And as 
for the Pharisees, for whom God's honor 
was simply a matter of the lips, He warned 
the people against them, calling them " hypo- 



88 THE DIVINE STORY 

crites" and "blind leaders of the blind" and 
" whited sepulchres," all fair without but full 
of filth and rottenness within. 

The result of His increased activity was 
twofold. On the one hand, the Pharisees 
were aroused to a more determined opposi- 
tion than ever ; on the other, the multitudes, 
and especially the Apostles, began to suspect 
that, notwithstanding His appearance of 
poverty and humility, He might turn out in 
the end to be the glorious, expected King. 

Many were the happenings which had 
helped to bring the Apostles to this frame 
of mind ; but the following is the one which 
probably contributed the most. 

One day, after having spent hours and 
hours, preaching to the people from Peter's 
bark, Jesus directed the Apostles, as even- 
ing was drawing on, to hoist anchor and 
set sail for the land of the Gerasens, — a 
country situated on the opposite shore. 
As He was very tired, and the distance 
across the lake was very great, He soon 
went back into the stern of the ship and set- 
tled Himself on some cushions there and fell 



A STORM AT SEA 89 

asleep. For a time after that, everything 
went well, — the sea was smooth, the evening 
calm, and a gentle breeze was blowing in a 
favorable direction. Gradually night came 
on, and nothing was heard save the flap, flap 
of the waves, as the boat sped quickly on its 
way. In the middle of the night, however, 
as the Apostles were nodding drowsily, a ter- 
rible wind storm arose, and like some great 
giant, suddenly let loose from bonds, it 
pounced upon them from an opening in the 
mountains to the north. In a twinkling, the 
waters were stirred to their very depths, and 
the surface of the sea was tossed into a region 
of moving hills and hollows. Madly the boat 
pitched and plunged, and fiercely shrieked 
the wind, yet throughout it all Jesus slept 
peacefully in the stern, — now rising high, 
now sinking low, as though in some rough 
cradle of the deep. For a time, the Apostles, 
knowing that He was weary, and having con- 
fidence in their power to pull the boat through 
safely, did not rouse Him. But at length, 
finding that the violence of the storm in- 
creased and that the boat threatened at every 



90 THE DIVINE STORY 

plunge to go to the bottom, they became 
panic-stricken, and stumbling wildly aft, they 
shouted, " Master, Master, save us, or we 
perish." 

Instantly, at their cries, Jesus arose and 
looked out calmly on the wildly tossing sea. 
Then He lifted His hand, saying gently, 
" Peace, be still." And even as a pack of 
snarling dogs become silent and subdued 
when they hear their master's voice, so, at 
His word, the waves cowed down, and the 
fierce wind ceased its howling. And when 
the boat had steadied itself, and began to 
ride buoyantly once more upon a calm and 
peaceful sea, He turned to His awestruck 
followers and said, " Why are ye fearful, O 
ye of little faith?" And that was all; in 
another instant He had settled Himself 
upon the cushions again, and was soon 
sound asleep. 

But there was no more sleep that night for 
the Apostles. They were too moved by what 
had happened to think of sleeping. And 
huddled together, like shadows, in the forward 
part of the ship, they talked about it, in low, 



A STORM AT SEA 91 

excited whispers. And from that, they went 
on to talk of other things, — of His life, so 
beautiful and sinless and perfect ; of His 
sermons, so different from those of the Scribes 
and Pharisees ; and of the many startling 
wonders that He wrought. And, filled with 
enthusiasm, some began to say, " He must be 
Christ, for no one else could say or do the 
things that He has said and done." But 
others, peering through the darkness to where 
He lay, and noting His poor appearance, an- 
swered questioningly, " But must not the 
Christ come suddenly and full of power and 
majesty ? " " But if not the Christ," another 
said, " who can He be ; for even the winds 
and sea obey Him ? " 

And so they continued all the night, wonder- 
ing who He could be. And when morning 
dawned, He awoke and came to them. And 
presently they found themselves at the shore 
of the land of the Gerasens. 



CHAPTER XV 

LIVING BREAD 

Our Lord's stay in the land of the Gera- 
sens was short. Soon He recrossed the 
lake and set out on another missionary 
journey. By this time, His fame and popu- 
larity were at their height, and not only 
was He surrounded in the different cities by 
larger and more enthusiastic crowds than 
ever, but He was even followed by them 
from one place to another, their number 
increasing as He went, until, in the end, He 
was accompanied by a multitude. 

And accompanied by this multitude, He 
returned, when His circuit was over, to 
Capharnaum. On entering the city, He pro- 
ceeded, as usual, towards the market-place. 
But He had gone only a short distance, when 
He was approached by a strange-looking man 
who entered into earnest conversation with 
Him. It was a disciple of John the Baptist 

92 



LIVING BREAD 93 

who had come to tell Him that the Baptist 
had been put to death. 

You will remember that, shortly after 
Jesus' baptism, a king whose name was 
Herod (he was the son of that other Herod 
who had sought to murder Jesus, while He 
was still a tiny infant) had cast John into 
prison. Well, for a long time he had kept 
him there, mouldering in filth and misery; 
for he was a very superstitious man, and 
feared that if he murdered John, some 
dreadful calamity would fall upon the na- 
tion. But one day, when he was flushed 
with wine, a young girl, named Salome, (the 
daughter of Herodias, whom he had taken 
unlawfully to wife) danced before him ; and 
he was so delighted by her graceful move- 
ments that, in the drunken extravagance of 
his passion, he cried out recklessly that he 
would give her whatever she should ask, 
though it should be half his kingdom. And 
he was applauded by his courtiers with bois- 
terous approval. Salome, on the advice of 
her mother, Herodias, who hated John be- 
cause he had publicly denounced her for 



94 THE DIVINE STORY 

unlawfully marrying Herod, asked for the 
Baptist's head. Herod was sobered by the 
gruesome request, but, fearing the ridicule 
of his courtiers, he granted it. And he sent 
and beheaded John in prison. And John's 
head, with its hair and beard all matted 
with blood, was brought in upon a great 
silver dish and given to the girl. And she 
took it and brought it to her mother. 

Such was the story told to Jesus as He 
was leading the multitude through the 
streets of Capharnaum. And when He 
heard it, His heart was pierced, as with a 
knife ; for He loved the Baptist dearly. 
And yearning to be alone with His grief, 
He turned abruptly and went down to the 
lake, and stepped into Peter's bark with His 
Apostles, and started for a place on the north- 
ern shore to which He was accustomed to 
go for solitude and prayer. 

But the crowd that had been following 
Him, especially that part of it which had 
begun to suspect that He might be the 
Promised King, was not willing to be sepa- 
rated from Him. Noting the direction of the 



LIVING BREAD 95 

boat, they said to one another, " He is bound 
for the northern shore; let us go and sur- 
prise Him there." And suiting the action 
to the word, they all started off, taking the 
road around the lake. And as they hurried 
through the villages along the way, others, 
infected by their enthusiasm, joined them, 
till their number was swelled to thousands. 

In the meantime, Jesus with His follow- 
ers arrived at the place, — for the distance by 
water was not so great as by land, — and pull- 
ing their boat upon the beach, they went 
up on the side of one of the surrounding 
hills and sat down. Here Jesus began to 
tell the Apostles about the Baptist, — how 
he was the greatest of all the Prophets sent 
by God, and how, to those who read their 
Bibles right, he was the Herald promised 
from on high. As He was talking, He 
noticed a group of men appear and start 
across the plain below. And after them, 
others kept coming and coming, until they 
rilled the place. And among them there 
were many sick, borne on litters. And He 
was so affected by the sight, that He left the 



g6 THE DIVINE STORY 

place where he was sitting, and came down 
and healed the sick and began to preach. 

His sermon, as usual, was about the 
Kingdom of Heaven, — that it was like a 
sheepfold ; and that just as a good shep- 
herd will leave ninety-nine of his flock to 
go after one sheep that has strayed away, 
so in the Kingdom of Heaven, God will leave 
His faithful children to seek after one who 
has wandered off into the brambles of wick- 
edness and sin. And He told them that 
they were like sheep who had no shepherd ; 
and that He would be their Shepherd to lead 
them and guide them and nourish them. 

Thus He continued to preach until the 
evening, yet no one stirred, for He seemed 
more than ever to hold out a promise of 
deliverance and happiness. 

When darkness began to fall, however, and 
still the people did not move, the Apostles 
interrupted Him, saying, " Master, this is a 
wilderness, and the people have come a great 
distance without providing themselves with 
food ; send them away, therefore, that going 
into the neighboring villages and towns they 



LIVING BREAD 97 

may procure nourishment for themselves." 
Jesus said, "You give them to eat." They 
answered, " Master, we have here only enough 
for our own supper, five barley loaves and 
two fishes ; and of what use would they be ? 
It would take a large sum of money to buy 
bread enough to supply them with even a 
morsel apiece." He said, " Make them sit 
down, and bring Me what you have." 

And when the people were all seated on the 
grass, in groups of fifties and hundreds, He 
took the five barley loaves and two fishes 
and, looking up to heaven, blessed them. 
Then He broke them, and kept handing the 
pieces to the Apostles, who kept coming and 
going among the multitude, until all had been 
supplied. When every one was satisfied, 
He again turned to the Apostles and said, 
" Go now and gather up the fragments, that 
nothing may be wasted." So they again 
went forth, this time carrying baskets. And 
they filled their baskets, making twelve in 
all, with the fragments of the five loaves and 
two fishes that remained over and above to 
the more than five thousand that had eaten. 



98 THE DIVINE STORY 

The effect of the miracle is beyond de- 
scription. With a great shout and a wild 
waving of arms, the whole multitude rushed 
toward Jesus, crying out, "He is the Messias; 
He is the Messias: come let us make Him 
King ; " for in the multiplication of the 
loaves they saw a certain pledge of the 
plenty that they believed would come in 
with the reign of the Promised King. But 
Jesus, seeing their design, escaped out of their 
hands; and, directing His Apostles to get 
into the boat and return to Capharnaum, He 
withdrew all alone to the mountain side to 
pray. 

This refusal of Jesus to become King, came 
as a tremendous shock to the multitude. And 
most of them, disappointed and disgusted, 
returned immediately to their homes. Some, 
however, hoping that He might be found more 
willing on the morrow, encamped for the 
night upon the plain. But when, in the 
morning, they went to look for Him, they 
learned, to their ever increasing wonder, that 
He had walked over the waters of the Sea of 
Galilee, during the night, and had joined His 



LIVING BREAD 99 

Apostles. So, filled with greater enthusiasm 
than ever, they started for the city to force 
Him to become King. 

Jesus was preaching in the synagogue when 
they arrived. But when He saw them enter- 
ing, with their eager, excited faces, He 
stopped and addressed Himself to them, 
saying, "Amen, Amen, I say unto you, your 
only object in seeking Me is to receive the 
good things of this earth. But it is not for 
your present life that I am come, but for 
your life hereafter. And the food that I 
shall give you will be unto life eternal." 
Filled with astonishment, they cried out, 
" Where is this food of life eternal ? " He 
said, " I am the bread of life which is come 
down from heaven; he that cometh to Me 
shall never hunger, and he that believeth 
in Me shall never thirst." Hardly believ- 
ing their ears, they looked at one an- 
other, and said, " Is this not Jesus, the son 
of Joseph, whose father and Mother we 
know? How then doth He say, 'I came 
down from heaven ' ? " Noting their bewilder- 
ment, He answered, " What I have said is 



100 THE DIVINE STORY 

true. I am the living bread that came down 
from heaven. And if any man eat this bread, 
he shall live forever; and the bread that I 
shall give you is My Flesh for the life of the 
world." At these words, a loud murmur of 
indignation arose among them, and they be- 
gan to say : " How can this Man give us His 
flesh, to eat ? It is absurd ! " Jesus said : 
" Murmur not among yourselves; for Amen, 
Amen, I say unto you, except you eat the 
Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His 
Blood you shall not have life, in you. But 
he that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My 
Blood hath everlasting life, and I will raise 
him up on the last day. For My Flesh is 
meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed." 
And repeating solemnly, He said, " He that 
eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood 
abideth in Me and I in him." 

There could be no mistaking His mean- 
ing. His words were too plain. He wanted 
them to believe that one day He would give 
them His very Flesh and Blood to eat and 
drink. And so they understood Him. And 
the great bulk of them, unwilling to take 



LIVING BREAD 101 

Him at His word, got up disgusted, and 
walked out of the synagogue. Even those 
who had been most loyal to Him said, 
" These are hard words and who can believe 
them ; " and shaking their heads, they also 
went out sadly. When, therefore, Jesus saw 
them all going, He turned sorrowfully to the 
Twelve and said, " Will you also go ? " But 
though His words had been as hard and as 
unintelligible to them as to the others, they 
still had faith in Him ; and Peter, in the 
name of all the others, answered, " Master, 
to whom shall we go, for Thou hast the 
words of eternal Life ? " And, as we shall 
see hereafter, their faith in Him was not in 
vain. 



CHAPTER XVI 



IN A HEATHEN LAND 



The Pharisees in Jerusalem hailed with 
greatest joy this falling away of the multi- 
tude, and a number of them hastened at 
once to Capharnaum to see if they could not 
complete the defection. Immediately on 
arriving in the city, they went about saying : 
" You see for yourselves that what we told 
you is true. He is a blasphemer, who has 
despised our sacred laws and set up doc- 
trines of His own. And to deceive you, 
the devil has given Him power to perform 
most startling works." And they stood in 
the crowds that were listening to Him, and 
interrupted His preaching, and broke up His 
meetings. 

The success of their efforts was even 
greater than they had looked for. Ere long, 
wherever Jesus went, He could hear the 
people muttering : " There He goes again. 

102 



IN A HEATHEN LAND 103 

He is wholly unfit to be a preacher in our 
land. He is a lawbreaker, and a despiser 
of our holy customs, and an emissary of the 
devil. It's about time we put a stop to 
Him." 

So He saw that to go right on with His 
ministry among them would be to precipi- 
tate a struggle that would quickly end in 
His death. And though He knew that such 
a struggle must ultimately take place, He 
was not ready for it now; for His time had 
not yet come. So, gathering His Apostles 
about Him, He bade adieu to Galilee, and 
withdrew to the pagan country, lying just to 
the north, called Phoenicia. 

His sojourn in this heathen land lasted 
hardly more than a month, — and yet it was 
one of the most important periods of His 
life : not because of any sermons He deliv- 
ered, or miracles He wrought, (for He went 
only rarely among the people) but because 
of His leading the Apostles to an under- 
standing of Him as the Christ. 

His work of bringing the Apostles to this 
understanding was slow and arduous; for, 



104 THE DIVINE STORY 

notwithstanding all their previous training, 
their eyes were still covered with the scales 
of many Jewish prejudices. But little by 
little, as He journeyed with them through 
the wild, mountainous region, He led them 
to the truth ; and at length, one day, He 
brought them to make an open acknowledg- 
ment of it. 

The day on which He brought them to 
this acknowledgment was among the very 
happiest of His life. He was in the neigh- 
borhood of a city called Caesarea-Philippi, and 
was talking to them of the general effect 
of His labors on the multitude, when, of a 
sudden, He stopped and said, " Whom do 
they say that I am ? " For a moment the 
Apostles remained silent, for they remem- 
bered how the people had been calling Him 
a wicked man, and a blasphemer, and an as- 
sociate of the devil. But presently one of 
them, probably James or John, remembering 
the opinions of the few who had remained 
faithful, answered, " Some say that You are 
Elias or one of the Prophets." Jesus lis- 
tened in silence, and for a moment gazed 



IN A HEATHEN LAND 105 

upon the ground. Then, looking up quickly, 
He said, " Whom do you say that I am ? " 
And Peter, in the name of all the others, 
answered, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of 
the Living God." 

Now the Apostles did not understand all 
that we understand by these words, or all 
that they themselves understood later, but 
they came as near to a perfect understand- 
ing of them as was possible at the time ; 
and Jesus was satisfied. His face shone 
with a fresh and glorious radiance. And 
turning to the impetuous Apostle, He said, 
" Blessed art thou, Simon, son of John, be- 
cause flesh and blood have not revealed this 
unto you, but My Father who is in heaven." 
Then a soft look came into His eyes, as in 
one who looks into the far-off future ; and 
He added solemnly : " Thou art Peter (a 
rock), and upon this rock I will build My 
Church, and the gates of hell shall not pre- 
vail against it. And to thee I will give the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven. And what- 
soever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be 
bound also in heaven : and whatsoever thou 



106 THE DIVINE STORY 

shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed also in 
heaven." 

The Apostles did not understand the mean- 
ing of "keys of the kingdom," and "bind- 
ing and loosing," but Jesus' manner awed 
them, and they were silent. Later on, how- 
ever, we shall see that He made His mean- 
ing clear; but for the present He simply 
said, " Tell no one that I am the Christ." 
And they promised to keep the matter secret. 



CHAPTER XVII 

A REVELATION OF GLORY 

From the day that Jesus was acknowledged 
as the Christ by the Apostles, He proceeded 
to speak to them about His death and resur- 
rection. Again and again He told them 
that He would go up to Jerusalem, and that, 
while there, He would be mocked, and 
scourged, and spit upon, and put to death, 
and that on the third day He would rise 
again. But it was all in vain ; for the 
Apostles still firmly believed that the glory 
of the Christ was to be of this world, and 
they could not see how He, being the Christ, 
could submit to shame and suffering; and as 
for the resurrection, they could not get the 
faintest notion of what He meant by it. 

To dispossess them of their false notions, 
therefore, and prepare them for His death 
and resurrection, Jesus now proceeded to 
make known, by a wondrous revelation, the 
true nature of His glory. 

107 



108 THE DIVINE STORY 

This revelation took place on the evening 
of the eighth day after Peter's great confes- 
sion. They were still in the neighborhood 
of Caesarea-Philippi, sitting at the foot of a 
great, high mountain, and Jesus was talking 
to the Apostles of His death, when, of a sud- 
den, He invited Peter and James and John 
to go with Him to pray. 

Now, it had ever been His custom, when 
His labors would allow, to spend His nights 
in prayer. And often the Apostles, wander- 
ing about in the early morning hours, had 
found Him so engaged. Once, after watch- 
ing Him from behind a boulder till His 
prayer was ended, they had come forward 
and asked Him to teach them how to pray. 
And He had given them the "Our Father"; 
wherefore it has been called the Lord's 
Prayer ever since. But rarely, if ever, had 
He asked any of them to accompany Him ; 
and when He did so, on this occasion, they all 
looked at one another. They said nothing, 
however, but the three favored ones arose 
and followed Him. 

It was twilight when they left the others 



A REVELATION OF GLORY 109 

in the valley, and night fell upon them as 
they journeyed on their way. Slowly the 
stars came out, one by one ; and presently, 
away off behind a distant mountain, the pale 
round moon arose, and began its lonely 
journey through the heavens. 

On and on, they journeyed, up the moun- 
tain side, in silence, in the darkness, till they 
came to a place where the trees and rocks 
combined to form a kind of natural sanc- 
tuary. Here Jesus halted; and turning to 
His companions He said, "Rest ye here, 
while I go yonder and pray." Then He went 
a short distance away, and knelt down. 

The Apostles, filled with wonder, huddled 
together in the darkness, and began to speak 
in low excited whispers of what it all could 
mean. And so they continued for some time. 
But, at length, being weary from their jour- 
ney, and the hour being late, they settled 
themselves as comfortably as they could and 
went to sleep, — the last object that met 
their drowsy gaze being Jesus, kneeling at a 
distance in the moonlight. 

How long the Apostles slept, they never 



110 THE DIVINE STORY 

knew. But they felt that it could not have 
been so very long; for the night was still 
dark and the stars were still shining when 
of a sudden something roused them, and, 
opening their eyes, they beheld a most won- 
drous scene. 

There was Jesus kneeling as before, but 
now how changed. His garments were as 
white as snow, His face as brilliant as the 
sun, and all about Him was a glory as of 
paradise. And presently, He was joined by 
Moses and Elias, who, all radiant and shin- 
ing, came floating softly down from heaven. 
Then all three began to walk up and down 
the mountain side, — or rather, they seemed 
to walk, for their feet touched not the 
ground, — Jesus in the middle, and Moses 
and Elias on either side ; and a great white 
cloud surrounded them. And as they walked 
they talked ; and their talk was about the 
death that Jesus should die in Jerusalem. 

While all this was taking place the Apos- 
tles, like men transfixed, were sitting over in 
the shadow, gazing in speechless wonder and 
listening, with bated breath. And so enrap- 



A REVELATION OF GLORY in 

tured were they, that when, at length, the vis- 
ion was about to end, and the heavenly 
visitants made as though to leave, Peter, 
hardly knowing what he did, started up to 
stop them, crying out, " Master, it is good for 
us to be here: let us make here three taber- 
nacles, one for Thee and one for Moses and 
one for Elias." But even as he spoke, the 
great white cloud moved towards him, and 
enveloped him and his companions. And a 
voice proceeded from it, saying, " This is My 
Son, heed ye what He says." And falling 
prostrate on the ground, they hid their 
faces in their hands. But presently some one 
came and touched them on the shoulder. 
And lifting their heads, they looked about. 
And their hearts were filled with wonder; 
for the place was the same as it had ever 
been ; and there was no one there save Jesus ; 
and He was as before a simple mortal like 
themselves. " Come," He said, " let us join 
the others in the valley." So rising up, 
without a word, they followed Him. And 
as they made their way down the mountain 
side, He cautioned them to tell no one what 



112 THE DIVINE STORY 

they had seen until He should be risen from 
the dead. 

They did not understand what He meant 
by " rising from the dead," but they prom- 
ised to keep the vision secret. And not 
until long afterwards, when He had actually 
risen, did they speak of it, — John saying, 
" We saw His glory, the glory, as it were, of 
the Only Begotten of the Father;" and 
Peter, " We were with Him in the Holy 
Mount, and were made eyewitnesses of His 
glory." 



CHAPTER XVIII 

NEW ENEMIES 

With the Transfiguration, as the Revela- 
tion on the mountain has come to be called, 
the sphere of Our Lord's ministry changed. 
Up to that time it had been practically con- 
fined to Galilee and the north; but thence- 
forward Jerusalem and the south saw the 
most of it. 

This southern ministry opened in Jerusalem 
at the feast of Tabernacles, — a feast, like the 
Passover, celebrated in memory of the nation's 
delivery from slavery. The celebration had 
already been in progress three days, and the 
great multitudes, which thronged the Temple 
courtyards, were not expecting Jesus, for the 
Galilean pilgrims had spread the report that 
He was afraid of the religious leaders and 
would not come. So when He came, He 
was able to make His w r ay unnoticed, until 
He reached a porch that ran around the 

"3 



114 THE DIVINE STORY 

lower courtyard. Here, however, some one 
recognized Him ; and the news spreading 
around that He was present, the multitudes, 
like wheat bending before the wind, began 
to move toward Him. When He saw Him- 
self surrounded, He began to preach. 

Now in Galilee His preaching had always 
been about the Kingdom of God, — how 
from small beginnings it would grow and 
grow until it had spread over all the earth; 
and how its members should be poor in spirit, 
and clean of heart, and upright of life, and 
should love one another, and do good to all, 
even to those who hated them. But during 
His southern ministry He preached more 
about Himself, — how He was the " Light of 
the World," and the " Resurrection from the 
Dead," and the " Fountain of Eternal Life." 
And there was an added power and majesty to 
His words that no one could resist. 

This change was especially noticeable in 
His opening sermon at the feast of Taberna- 
cles. And the people stood there spellbound 
all the afternoon. And when evening was 
come, and He started to leave, they gave vent 



NEW ENEMIES 115 

to an enthusiasm like unto that which of old 
had so often Greeted Him on the shores of 
the Sea of Galilee. 

The Pharisees were beside themselves at 
this demonstration; but, not having been ex- 
pecting Him, they were not prepared to act. 
They therefore decided to wait to see what 
would happen on the morrow. But the next 
day, Jesus, in passing the Temple, restored 
sight to a blind man, who sat at the gateway 
begging ; and the excitement of the multi- 
tude became so great that any attempt to 
seize Him was out of the question. So 
the Pharisees, filled with consternation, came 
and sought the cooperation of a class of men 
known as Sadducees. 

These Sadducees were a second leading 
party among the Jews. They had come to 
be regarded as leaders because they were 
descended from families to which God had 
given the duties of the priesthood, and be- 
cause they had the support of the Roman 
governors, with whom they made it a special 
point to keep on friendly terms. In religious 
matters they differed greatly from the Phari- 



Il6 THE DIVINE STORY 

sees, paying but scant attention to the rules 
and ceremonies which the Pharisees regarded 
as sacred. Hence the Pharisees hated them, 
and would not have dreamed of coming to 
them for help, did not the situation make it 
necessary. 

Realizing, however, that to represent Jesus 
as a despiser of religious customs would 
be of no avail, (since the Sadducees them- 
selves despised those customs) the Phari- 
sees pictured Him as a disturber of the 
peace. They said, "Unless something is done 
to prevent it, the people will soon place this 
Man at their head and rise up in revolu- 
tion against the government." And the 
Sadducees, whose position and influence 
depended, above all things, on the good 
graces of their Roman masters, were filled 
with alarm. And they promised to have 
Jesus apprehended. 

Accordingly, the next day, when He be- 
gan to preach, they had officers ready to 
arrest Him. But so noble and full of beauty 
were His words, that even the officers were 
captivated, and simply stood in the crowd 



NEW ENEMIES 117 

all the afternoon listening to Him. And in 
the evening, when the leaders came to ask 
them why they had not taken Him, they 
answered, " We could not do so ; for never 
did any man speak as this Man spoke." 
" Fools," said the leaders angrily, " only the 
ignorant rabble have believed in Him, and 
they are accursed." 

This experience, however, though exasper- 
ating, taught the Sadducees a lesson. It 
taught them that to attempt to take Jesus 
while His power to influence the people 
was so great, would be only to precipitate 
the uprising which they were anxious to 
avoid. So they decided that, before using 
force against Him, it would be wise to dis- 
credit Him with the multitude ; and with 
this in view, they resorted to the following 
strategy. 

The next morning, as He was preaching 
to an admiring throng, a number of them 
dragged a wretched woman before Him, and, 
declaring loudly that she had been taken in 
a certain nameless sin, they demanded what 
He should have done with her. You under- 



Il8 THE DIVINE STORY 

stand ; it was a snare. The most sacred law 
of the nation declared that such women should 
be stoned to death ; whereas Jesus was known 
to be kind to them. So his enemies felt sure 
that they had Him entrapped, no matter what 
answer He should make. But Jesus, who saw 
clearly through their hypocrisy, did not so 
much as even deign to look at them, but 
stooped down and began to write with His 
finger in the sand. Nettled at this, therefore, 
they began to taunt Him, and to point out 
exultingly to the multitude that, since He did 
not dare to decide a simple question of the 
law, He was unfit to be regarded as a Leader. 
For a time Jesus did not notice them. He 
just remained there, writing with His finger 
in the sand. But at length, when their denun- 
ciations had become most bitter, He quietly 
arose, and while all held their breath to hear 
Him, He turned to the woman's accusers, 
and said significantly, " Let him that is with- 
out sin amongst you cast the first stone at 
her." That was all. The next moment He 
again bent down, and began to write with 
His finger in the sand. But it was enough. 



NEW ENEMIES 119 

One by one the hypocrites began to slink 
away, beginning with the oldest ; and soon 
not one of them was left. When, therefore, 
they had all gone, and there remained only 
Jesus and the woman before the multitude, 
He arose and said, " Woman, where are thy 
accusers ? Has no one condemned thee ? " 
And the poor sinner, filled with shame and 
sorrow, faltered, " No one, Lord." " Then," 
He said forgivingly, " neither do I condemn 
thee ; go and sin no more." 

Thus did Jesus put His enemies to flight 
when they laid a snare to entrap Him 
before the multitude. But, though He had 
overcome them, He knew that to remain 
any longer in the city would be dangerous. 
So he withdrew with His Apostles to Perea, — 
a Jewish province on the opposite side of the 
Jordan River. 



CHAPTER XIX 

BROTHERLY LOVE 

Immediately after His arrival in Perea, 
Jesus started on a journey throughout all 
its villages and towns, preaching the Good 
News, and working miracles, as He had been 
accustomed to do in Galilee. But, as was to 
be expected, after what had happened in 
Jerusalem, He was not allowed to labor 
unmolested. Representatives of the reli- 
gious leaders followed Him everywhere, pur- 
suing their policy of striving to injure Him 
with the multitudes. 

One of their favorite methods was to ask 
Him knotty questions on religion ; for they 
knew that a perfect knowledge of religious 
matters was regarded an indispensable pos- 
session of any one coming from God, and 
they felt that if only they could worst Him 
in discussion, they would be doing much 
towards weakening His influence with the 



BROTHERLY LOVE 121 

people. But all their efforts were unsuccess- 
ful. For not only did He answer their 
questions satisfactorily, but, what was more 
disconcerting still, He did it in such a way 
as to bring out more clearly and beautifully 
than ever, one or another of the truths which 
He had come on earth to teach. 

For example, one day when He was preach- 
ing to a multitude that was so great that they 
trod on one another in their efforts to get 
near Him, a Scribe broke in upon Him, ask- 
ing, " Master, what must I do to possess 
eternal life ? " For a moment there was a 
dead silence. Then Jesus answered, " You 
are acquainted with the law; what do the 
Ancients say ? " The Scribe, straightening 
himself up for a conflict, replied, " Thou shalt 
love the Lord, thy God, with thy whole heart, 
and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole 
mind, and with all thy strength ; and thy 
neighbor as thyself." Jesus said, " Thou 
hast answered rightly, do that and thou 
shalt live." 

The Scribe, however, was not satisfied. 
His question, instead of bringing forth the 



122 THE DIVINE STORY 

desired discussion, had been turned upon 
himself. So, wishing to justify himself, he 
said, " It is easy enough to say that I must 
love my neighbor as myself ; but first I must 
know who my neighbor is." 

Now this was a matter upon which there 
was a great difference of opinion between 
the Scribes and Jesus. The Scribes said 
that " neighbor " meant only those who 
practised the same religion as themselves 
and were friendly; while Jesus said that it 
meant everybody, even the Samaritans, a 
nation to whom the Jews were strongly op- 
posed, and with whom they had had many 
a bitter conflict. So it looked as if the de- 
sired discussion might be forthcoming after 
all. But Jesus simply said, " Listen," and 
He told this story: — 

Once upon a time a Jew was travelling 
from Jerusalem to Jericho, — a very danger- 
ous journey, for the road was infested by 
robbers. He had covered most of the dis- 
tance, and was beginning to look forward 
to his safe arrival in the city, when, of a 
sudden, he was attacked by a number of men 



BROTHERLY LOVE 123 

who rushed from behind a great, high boulder 
and pounced upon him, — felling him to the 
ground, and beating him unmercifully. And 
when they had stripped him of all he had, they 
left him there half dead, lying in the roadway. 
After some time, a priest came along. But 
when he saw the wounded man, he was re- 
minded only of his own danger, and crossed 
over to the other side, and hurried on his 
way. By and by, another traveller happened 
that way. This time it was one of the assist- 
ants in the Temple. But he also, when he 
saw the man, lying bleeding in the roadway, 
thought only of his own danger, and crossed 
over, and hurried past. After that the pain- 
ful hours dragged by slowly until evening, — 
the most dangerous part of the day. Then 
a Samaritan chanced along. But when he 
saw the helpless man, he was moved with 
compassion ; and coming over to him, he 
knelt down beside him, and anointed his 
wounds, pouring in oil and wine. And when 
he had restored him, he lifted him upon his 
own beast, and walked slowly beside him till 
they came to an inn. And all that night he 



124 THE DIVINE STORY 

sat up watching him. And when morning 
was come, giving money to the innkeeper, he 
said, " Take care of this man until he is well ; 
and whatever it costs you over and above, I, 
on my return, will repay you." 

Jesus told this story as He alone could tell 
it. And when he had finished He turned 
inquiringly to his questioner. The Scribe, 
however, deeming, no doubt, that silence was 
the best means of minimizing the force of 
the lesson taught, said nothing. But Jesus 
was unwilling that any particle of the lesson 
should be lost. So He said to him, " Which 
of these three, think you, was neighbor to 
him who fell among the robbers ? " And 
the Scribe, not so much as even deigning 
to use the word " Samaritan," so greatly did 
he hate them all, muttered, " He, I suppose, 
that was merciful unto him." Jesus said, 
"Thou hast answered well; go thou and 
do in like manner." 



CHAPTER XX 

god's mercy 

Though routed repeatedly, the enemies of 
Jesus did not relax in their efforts to dis- 
credit Him with the multitudes, but returned 
to the attack again and again, adopting first 
one method and then another. 

For instance, a point on which they fre- 
quently insisted, was the fact that He ate 
and dressed and went about like an ordi- 
nary man, whereas John the Baptist, who 
was regarded as a Prophet, wore only the 
skin of animals and fasted on locusts and 
wild honey and lived in caves and desert 
places. And some of the people were scan- 
dalized at the difference; for they did not 
realize that Jesus had come to set an example 
that was possible to be imitated by all, and 
not simply by a few. 

But the point on which the leaders in- 
sisted with greatest success, was Jesus' prac- 

125 



126 THE DIVINE STORY 

tice of striving to win sinners to repentance 
by being kind to them, — by talking to them 
on the street corners, and in the market- 
places, and sitting at table with them. For 
they had led the people to believe that all 
communication with sinful persons was the 
same as leaguing oneself with the devil. 
One day, however, when they were inveigh- 
ing against Him with more than usual vehe- 
mence for His practice in this regard, He 
put them to shame before the multitude by 
telling the following story : — 

Once upon a time, there was a certain 
rich man who had two sons, one close to 
thirty, the other just beginning his twenties ; 
and he loved them both most tenderly. 
But the younger was a wild and reckless 
lad, who chafed under the restraints of 
his father's house, and sighed for the free 
and careless life of the world outside. And 
one day, after he had become of age, he came 
to his father and said, " Father, I'm of age 
now, and I want to see the world ; give me, 
therefore, the portion of property that is com- 
ing to me and let me go." Long and earn- 



GOD'S MERCY 1 27 

estly the father sought to dissuade him ; but 
in vain. He would not be stayed. So he 
received his share of the property, and went 
off joyously into a distant country. 

For a long time after his arrival in his 
new surroundings, everything went well with 
him ; and home and friends and father were 
all forgotten in the wild orgy of nights and 
days with boon companions. But in the 
course of time, little by little, he came to the 
end of his mad career. First his money failed 
him ; for no fortune could stand the expendi- 
tures he was making. Then his friends, who 
had cleaved to him only for the good times 
he was able to give them, turned their backs 
on him. Then a mighty famine arose, and 
he began to be in want. And last of all, 
as the culmination of his misfortune, he was 
reduced to servitude, and became a swine- 
herd for a farmer; and he was glad to get 
the husks that the very swine did eat, for no 
man gave unto him. 

For some time after that, he continued 
to wallow in filth and misery ; but at length, 
one day, returning to himself, he said : 



128 THE DIVINE STORY 

" Why should I perish here with hunger 
while in my father's house the very servants 
have all they want to eat ? I will arise and go 
to my father, and say to him, ' Father, I have 
sinned against heaven and before thee ; I am 
not now worthy to be called thy son ; make 
me as one of thy hired servants.' " And sum- 
moning up all that was noblest in his nature, 
he straightway left his filthy position and 
started for home. 

It was a long and painful journey, and 
often in the course of it, he wavered and was 
tempted to go back to his husks and swine. 
But he struggled bravely and persevered, 
turning, at length, on the evening of a 
beautiful day in spring, into the very road 
on which his father's house stood. 

The poor old father was sitting by a win- 
dow looking sadly down the road. It was 
his daily custom to sit there thus, for he ever 
nourished the hope that some day he would 
see his son coming home again. And as he sat 
there, that evening, he saw the man tu rn into the 
road, and begin to approach the house. Filled 
with an intense longing that it might be his 



GOD'S MERCY 1 29 

son, he bent forward, and strained his eyes, 
and looked and looked. And suddenly, 
while the man was still a great distance away, 
he recognized him. And uttering a broken 
cry, " My son; my son," he sprang from the 
window, and rushed out of the house, and 
down the road to meet him, — his arms out- 
stretched, his white, uncovered head bent 
forward, his whole appearance indicative of 
the happiness that filled his heart. 

The poor prodigal was filled with confu- 
sion at the sight of so much love; and holding 
up his hands, as if to ward his father off, 
he began his confession, — " Father, I have 
sinned against heaven and before thee. I 
am not now worthy to be called thy son ; 
make me as one of thy hired servants." But 
the father, unmindful of the protest, came 
up, and enwrapped him in his arms, and 
kissed him. And to some servants who had 
come up, he said, "Go, bring the finest robe 
and put it on him, and put shoes on his feet, 
and a ring on his hand ; for this is my son 
who was dead, and is come to life again ; who 
was lost and is found." And he ordered 



130 THE DIVINE STORY 

a banquet, and told every one to make 
merry. 

All this time the elder brother had been 
in the field and was ignorant of what had 
happened. When, therefore, by and by, he 
came near the house, and heard the sound of 
merriment, and saw the servants coming and 
going with steaming dishes, he was greatly 
surprised, and asked what it meant. Eagerly 
they told him that his brother had re- 
turned and that his father, in the joy of 
receiving him safe, was giving a banquet. 
But instead of rejoicing, as was to be ex- 
pected, he became angry and began to find 
fault with his father. So the father came 
out and began to explain. But the elder 
son would not listen, saying bitterly, " Be- 
hold ! for so many years do I serve thee, 
and I have never transgressed thy com- 
mandment, and yet thou hast never given 
me even a simple supper to make merry 
with my friends. But now, when this thy 
son comes home, who has wasted his money 
in sinful pleasures, you go and kill the best 
sheep of the flock, and feast him with great 



GOD'S MERCY 131 

rejoicing." " But," said the father, sadly, 
" remember, that all I have is thine ; but 
it was fit that we should make merry now; 
for this my son was dead and is come to life 
again, was lost and is found." 

The multitude listened with deepest atten- 
tion as Jesus told this story; and when He 
had finished, they turned instinctively to the 
leaders to hear what they would say. But 
the leaders were silent. In the elder brother 
they had seen themselves. And after that 
they never dared to find fault with Jesus' 
attitude towards sinners. 



CHAPTER XXI 

god's compassion 

By the parable of the Prodigal Son, as 
well as by many other parables and actions, 
our Blessed Lord made it clear that we must 
love everybody, even our enemies and the 
very worst of sinners. But He did not wish us 
to understand that we should love all equally. 
He Himself had many friends whom He 
loved with a special love, and for whom He 
wrought some of His most striking mir- 
acles. An excellent illustration of this, is 
seen in the following incident, which hap- 
pened about this time. 

In Bethany, a little village about two 
miles from Jerusalem, there dwelt, in perfect 
happiness, two sisters and a brother, whose 
names were Martha and Mary and Lazarus. 
Mary was a sweet and winsome soul, with 
the light of innocence shining in her eyes, 
and the peace of heaven reigning in her 
132 



GOD'S COMPASSION 133 

heart. And though serious and thoughtful, 
she was not sad, but ever bright and happy, 
— a joy to all who knew her, the very life 
and sunshine of her home. But she was 
happiest when alone with God, and ofttimes, 
unobserved by her companions, she would 
steal off quietly to her room or to the syna- 
gogue, and there pour forth her soul to Him 
in silent, heartfelt prayer. And so our Lord, 
who saw the hearts of all, saw hers, as purest 
gold, and loved her. And she loved Him ; 
for there was about Him that divine ten- 
derness, that gentle, loving sympathy, that 
perfect, yet simple, holiness of life, that an- 
swered all the cravings of her soul, and drew 
her to Him with irresistible attraction. And 
His visits were to her as an angel's visits ; 
and it was her custom ever when He came 
to place herself in reverence at His feet, and 
listen there, in keenest ecstasy, as if to words 
that came from out the very mouth of God. 
Martha, on the contrary, was taken up with 
the practical affairs of life, as may be seen 
from the following incident. One day when 
Jesus was visiting their house; and Mary 



134 THE DIVINE STORY 

sat enrapt, as usual, at His feet, Martha, 
who was busy getting dinner, came and said 
complainingly : " Master, hast Thou no care 
that I am left alone to serve ? Why do you 
not bid Mary come and help me ? " But 
Jesus simply said : " Martha, thou art 
troubled over many things, whereas one 
alone is necessary : Mary hath chosen the 
better part, which shall not be taken from 
her." But withal, Martha was a good and 
holy soul and Jesus loved her. As also He 
loved Lazarus, the brother, a youth of pure 
and noble life, devoted to his sisters, and 
faithful in the service of his God. 

Now it came to pass while Jesus was in 
Perea that Lazarus fell ill. At first he 
seemed in no especial danger and the sisters 
did not worry; but as the days went by, he 
grew steadily worse, till, at length, it became 
certain that he could not recover. Filled 
with grief, the poor, distracted sisters sent 
to Jesus, saying, " Lord, he whom Thou 
lovest is sick;" for Lazarus, all through his 
delirium, had been calling on Jesus' name. 
But Jesus hardly seemed to hear their piteous 




" It was Mary's custom, when Jesus came, to place herself 
reverence at His feet." 



[Page 133] 



GOD'S COMPASSION 135 

cry. He simply said to their messenger, 
" Tell them that this sickness is not unto 
death, but for the glory of God, and that the 
Son of God may be glorified by it." Then 
He went on with His labors as before. So 
Lazarus died without seeing his Friend ; 
and the sisters, feeling that their prayer had 
not been answered, were plunged in deepest 
misery. 

After Lazarus had been dead two days, 
however, Jesus said to the Apostles, " Let us 
go to Bethany, for Lazarus is dead." Some 
of them demurred, saying, " Bethany is but 
two miles from Jerusalem, and the religious 
leaders will come and put You to death." 
But Thomas said, " Let us go, and if it be 
necessary, we also will die with Him." And 
they went. 

A journey of two days brought them to 
the little town and some one, seeing them 
coming over the outlying hills, came and told 
Martha, who ran out of the house and down 
the road to meet them. Coming up to them 
just as they were entering the city gate, she 
said, " Ah, Lord ! if Thou hadst only been 



136 THE DIVINE STORY 

here, my brother Lazarus had not died." 
" Your brother shall rise again," replied 
Jesus, scrutinizing her countenance to see 
what effect His words would have upon 
her. " Ah ! yes," she answered sadly, " I 
know ; in the resurrection of the last day." 
He said solemnly, " I am the Resurrection 
and the Life ; he that believeth in Me, al- 
though he be dead, shall live ; and every 
one that liveth and believeth in Me shall 
not die forever. Believest thou this?" And 
Martha answered vaguely, " Yea, Lord, I 
have believed that Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the living God, who art come 
into this world." 

After that Jesus was silent. He just stood 
there, looking on the ground. At length, lift- 
ing His head, He said softly, " Where is 
Mary ? " So Martha came and told Mary ; 
for she was in her room and had not heard 
that Jesus was come. And straightway leav- 
ing the house, Mary ran as fast as she could 
down the road, — a crowd of friends and 
neighbors following her. When she came up 
to Jesus, casting herself sobbing at His feet, 



GOD'S COMPASSION 137 

she said, " Lord, I am sure hadst Thou been 
here, my brother Lazarus had not died." The 
sight of her great grief, filled Jesus with com- 
passion. And, groaning in spirit, He said, 
" Where have they laid him ? " Some one 
in the crowd said, " Come and we will 
show you." So He gently helped Mary to 
her feet; and taking a place between her 
and Martha, He went with them to the 
tomb. And He was weeping. 

When they reached the place, He said, 
" Remove the stone ; " for the tomb had 
been cut in the side of a hill, and a large 
stone had been rolled against its opening. 
But Martha, practical in this as in all things, 
stepped forward, saying, " Master, remember, 
Lazarus has been dead four days, and by 
this time his body is corrupt." Jesus said, 
" Martha, did I not say unto thee, that if 
thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of 
God ? " So she drew back and the stone 
was rolled away. 

For a moment Jesus stood there, motion- 
less, His head bent upon His breast; and the 
crowd all edged closer to see what He would 



138 THE DIVINE STORY 

do. Then, lifting His eyes to heaven, He said, 
" Father, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast 
heard Me. And I know that Thou hearest 
Me always, but because of those who stand 
about have I said it; that they may believe 
that Thou hast sent Me." And stretching 
forth His arms, He cried with a loud voice, 
" Lazarus, come forth." Whereupon there 
issued from the dark depths of the tomb the 
figure of a man, his hands and feet and head 
wound round with burying cloths. And it 
was Lazarus. And Jesus said, " Loose him 
and let him go." 



CHAPTER XXII 

HOSANNAS 

By nightfall the news of this stupendous 
miracle had spread everywhere, and all the 
next day Bethany was thronged with visitors 
who followed Lazarus about, or peered into 
the empty tomb, or crowded around the dif- 
ferent witnesses, to listen again and again to 
the wondrous story of how it all had happened. 

But in Jerusalem the scene was different. 
The Pharisees and Sadducees, beside them- 
selves, and declaring that it was the work of 
Beelzebub, the prince of devils, had come 
to the High Priest, whose name was Caiphas, 
and besought him to take national action 
in the matter. And he had consented, and 
convened the Sanhedrin, the chief council of 
the nation. 

When the members of the Sanhedrin 
met, — there were seventy of them in all, — 
Caiphas put the case before them. He 

139 



140 THE DIVINE STORY 

said, " This Man Jesus is performing mira- 
cles and arousing the people. If we let Him 
go, He will be proclaimed King, and an 
insurrection will result. Then the Romans 
will destroy our nation. What, therefore, 
shall we do with Him ? " Then one of the 
members arose and said, " We ought not to 
condemn Him without a hearing; it is against 
our law. Let us wait; if He is in league 
with the evil one, as some say, His work 
will, of necessity, come to naught; but if He 
comes from God, we ought not to hinder 
Him." But before he had sat down another 
member, probably a Pharisee, arose and an- 
swered hotly, " We have already waited too 
long; this Man is a daily menace to our 
country and ought to be put to death." And 
with this opinion Caiphas agreed, saying, " It 
is better that one man should die than that 
the whole nation should perish." And so it 
was decided by the council. And a reward 
was offered to any one who would deliver 
Jesus into their hands. 

In the meantime, however, Jesus, having 
foreseen the effect His miracle would have, 



HOSANNAS 141 

had withdrawn secretly with Lazarus and the 
Twelve to a wild, secluded region, some dis- 
tance to the north, called Ephraim. When, 
therefore, His enemies came to look for Him, 
they could not find Him. 

Jesus' purpose in thus concealing Himself, 
however, was not to prevent His enemies 
from ever putting Him to death, but simply 
to await the proper time; for, according to 
the Promise, He should not die until the 
Passover, and that was still six weeks away. 
Accordingly He waited only until the Pass- 
over drew nigh ; and then coming forth, He 
set His face steadfastly for Jerusalem. 

As usual, at such times, the road was 
dotted with groups of pilgrims on their way 
to the capital for the feast. So it was not 
long before a multitude surrounded Him. 
And mistaking His air of resolution for 
a proof that He had determined at last to 
set up His glorious Kingdom, they formed 
in line behind Him; and singing the sec- 
tions of the Promise which they had twisted 
to suit their worldly cravings, they followed 
on the way. 



142 THE DIVINE STORY 

At Bethany, Jesus halted; for it was the 
Sabbath, and He wished to pass it quietly 
with His friends; as, indeed, He did, — go- 
ing with them in the morning to the syna- 
gogue, and spending the afternoon peacefully 
in their home. Though quiet, however, that 
Sabbath is forever memorable in Jesus' life 
because of an incident which happened in 
the evening. 

He was seated at supper with Lazarus and 
the Twelve, when into the room came Mary, 
bearing in her hands an alabaster vase of 
precious ointment. Without a word, she 
made her way, until she came to the place 
where He was sitting. Here she knelt down, 
and, opening her vase, she poured its contents 
on His feet ; and the whole house was filled 
with the odor of the ointment. 

The action, in itself, was not extraordinary; 
for it was a common expression of courtesy 
in those days, to anoint the feet of honored 
visitors. But to use such precious ointment 
for the purpose was most exceptional ; and 
the Apostles were scandalized at it. Judas 
especially, who was treasurer of the little 



HOSANNAS 143 

band, began to protest, saying : " Why such 
sinful waste? This ointment should have 
been sold and its value given to the poor." 
This he said, however, not because he cared 
for the poor, but because he wished to get 
possession of the money ; for he was a thief, 
and for some time had been appropriating 
to himself the contents of the common 
purse. This Jesus knew, but He did not 
refer to it, saying simply, " The poor you 
have always with you, and whenever you will, 
you may do them good ; but Me you have 
not always. In pouring this ointment on 
Me Mary hath anointed Me for My burial. 
And I say unto you that wherever My 
Gospel shall be preached, it shall be told 
for a memory of her." The Apostles did 
not grasp His meaning when He said that 
He had been anointed for His burial, but 
His manner awed them, and they were silent. 

And so the Sabbath passed ; and the next 
morning early, the advance to Jerusalem, 
which it had interrupted, was resumed. 

From Bethany, the road led for about a 
mile between cultivated fields and past a 



144 THE DIVINE STORY 

straggling village called Bethphage ; then, 
winding its way under palm and olive 
trees, it climbed the side of a hill, called 
Olivet, from whose summit Jerusalem, like a 
picture, could be seen ; and then zigzagging 
down the opposite slope, it crossed a nar- 
row valley, finally entering the city at a great 
wide gate. 

Along this road, then, the procession moved, 
— Jesus, surrounded by His Apostles, riding 
on an ass, and the multitude, singing psalms 
and shouting sections of the Promise, follow- 
ing. Between the cultivated fields they came, 
and through the Bethphage village ; and they 
had just begun to ascend the Mount of Olives, 
when another multitude, coming from Jeru- 
salem, where the news of Jesus' approach had 
spread, came sweeping down the hill. Down 
they rushed, waving their hands and shouting 
triumphantly, till they reached the bottom of 
the hill ; and here their mad enthusiasm, 
spreading to the multitude which marched be- 
hind, gave rise to a scene that beggars all 
description. Some tore off their coats and 
spread them in the way; others rushed to the 



HOSANNAS 145 

side of the road and broke branches from the 
palm trees, and waved them in the air; and 
all shouted or sang in wild delirium of joy. 
For a time all was confusion. But at length 
a semblance of order was secured, and the 
march was taken up again, — this time, with 
a multitude before and after, and Jesus, sur- 
rounded by His Apostles, riding in the midst. 
Up the hill they came, singing and 
shouting and waving palm branches, until 
they reached the summit, whence Jerusalem, 
in all its beauty, could be seen. Here an- 
other wild demonstration took place. For 
at this point, the multitude that went be- 
fore, thinking, no doubt, that the sight of 
the city would draw from Jesus some dec- 
laration of His intention of driving out the 
Romans, stood still, and waited for Him 
to approach. And as He drew near, some 
one shouted, "Hail to the King; hail to Him 
who cometh in the name of the Lord." And 
the whole multitude, taking up the cry, made 
the hill resound with its glad refrain. But 
when Jesus came and saw the towers and 
pinnacles of the city flashing like a vision in 



146 THE DIVINE STORY 

the sun, instead of uttering a threat against 
the Romans, He began to weep and say, 
" Alas for thy blindness, O Jerusalem, for 
the day shall come upon thee when, on ac- 
count of thy failure to see what was for thy 
good, thy enemies will come and utterly de- 
stroy thee." In the wild excitement of the 
moment, however, only a comparatively small 
number were able to observe Him; and before 
even He had finished His words, the march 
was resumed with all the wild jubilation of 
before. 

And thus,at length, He entered the city gate. 
The Pharisees and Sadducees were enraged 
at hearing Him publicly acknowledged as the 
Christ, and would then and there have done 
Him violence; but they feared the enthusiasm 
of the people. So He marched unmolested 
through the narrow streets and entered the 
Temple, — the place towards which He had 
been tending. And when evening was come 
He returned unharmed to Bethany. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE BEGINNING OF THE END 

The ovation of Palm Sunday, as the day 
of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem has come to 
be called, had forced the religious leaders 
to recognize publicly our Saviour's claim of 
being the Promised King. And as that was 
one of the chief reasons for which He had 
permitted it, He was satisfied. 

Not so, however, the multitudes. They 
had confidently expected that sometime, in 
the course of it, Jesus would declare His 
intention of setting up an earthly Kingdom ; 
and He had not only failed to do this, but, 
according to those who had been nearest 
Him on the summit of the Mount of Olives, 
He had even intimated that He would never 
do so. In consequence, a great number, dis- 
appointed and disgusted, went over to His 
enemies. 

Hope dies hard, however, and a number 
147 



148 THE DIVINE STORY 

still large enough to make the leaders afraid 
to attempt to seize Jesus, continued to adhere 
to Him. " For," they said, " there are still 
three days before the Passover, and He has 
yet time to come forward and declare Him- 
self." And their hope was strengthened by 
an incident which happened on the following 
day. 

You will remember that on that occasion 
of Jesus' first public visit to the city of Jeru- 
salem, He had put an end to certain Temple 
abuses. Well, ever since, those same abuses 
had been creeping in, little by little, until, at 
the time of which we are speaking, they were 
almost as bad as ever. These Jesus noticed 
on entering the Temple the next morning, 
and He again put a stop to them. His 
action, as on the original occasion, was really 
directed against the leaders. But the hope- 
ful ones, seeing only the authority which it 
presupposed, interpreted it as favorable to 
their expectation. And declaring that it 
was but the forerunner of more decisive 
actions, they waited impatiently for the 
morrow. But on the next day something 



THE BEGINNING OF THE END 149 

happened which caused most of them to 
give up in disgust. 

It took place towards evening. Jesus was 
preaching to a multitude, when His enemies, 
who had been scheming all day how they 
might entrap Him, came forward and inter- 
rupted Him, saying, " Master, is it lawful to 
give tribute to Caesar or not ? " 

The question seems simple enough, but 
in those days it was a crucial one ; for the 
Jews paid taxes to the Roman Emperor, yet 
they believed that, as God's chosen people, 
they should not be obliged to do so ; and they 
were certain that the Messias would put a 
stop to the practice. Jesus' questioners, there- 
fore, felt certain that they had Him on the 
horns of a dilemma ; for if, on the one hand, 
He should say, " It is lawful to pay tribute 
to Caesar," even His most loyal supporters 
would conclude that He had renounced all 
claim to being the Christ, and would fall 
away from Him ; whereas if, on the other 
hand, He should say, " It is not lawful to 
pay tribute to the Roman Emperor," He 
would be regarded as a revolutionist and be 



150 THE DIVINE STORY 

arrested. All waited breathless, therefore, to 
hear what He would say. 

For a moment, Jesus, who saw clearly 
through the evil scheme, was silent. He 
just stood there looking and looking at His 
enemies. Then He said bitterly, " Hypo- 
crites, show me the coin in which you pay 
the taxes." And one of them handed Him 
a penny. Now the penny of that day had 
the head of the Emperor stamped on one 
side, and on the other, the words, "Tiberius 
Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus." So 
holding it up before them, He said, " Whose 
image and inscription is this ? " " Caesar's," 
they shouted fiercely. "Well," He said 
calmly, " render to Caesar the things that are 
Caesar's, and to God the things that are 
God's." 

By this answer, Jesus laid down clearly 
and justly the relations which ever should 
exist between a man's duties towards God 
and the civil ruler ; nevertheless He lost by 
it. For, on the one hand, the words, " Render 
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's," led 
many to believe that He favored the rule of 



THE BEGINNING OF THE END 151 

the Romans, and caused them to fall away 
from Him; while, on the other hand, the 
words, " Render to God, the things that are 
God's," gave opportunity to His enemies to 
pretend that He had counselled paying tribute 
to God alone. 

A certain number, however, still hoped 
against hope, and decided that, before giving 
Him up entirely, they would wait and see 
what the morrow would bring forth. But the 
next day, which was Wednesday, Jesus re- 
mained at Bethany, and did not come near the 
city at all. Hence, after waiting and waiting 
for Him, in vain, this remnant also became 
discouraged, and declaring bitterly that He 
was an impostor who had cruelly deceived 
them, they, too, went over to His enemies. 
Thus, on Wednesday night, of all the 
multitudes who had greeted Him on Sun- 
day as Messias, only a few remained to 
speak about Him kindly. 

Bad, however, as was this turn in the tide 
of Jesus' affairs, it was still not such as to 
encourage His enemies to proceed at once 
against Him. For they knew how easily a 



152 THE DIVINE STORY 

mob could be aroused, and they feared that 
any attempt to seize Him while the city was 
crowded with pilgrims, might awaken the 
opposition of some who had received bless- 
ings at His hand ; and that this example, 
spreading to the multitudes, might precipi- 
tate the very tumult which they were so 
anxious to avoid. That night, therefore, as 
they sat in council and considered the mat- 
ter, they decided that it were wiser not to 
act until the pilgrims had departed. 

Hardly had they come to this decision, 
however, when the porter appeared at the 
door of the council chamber and announced 
that there was a man without who said that 
He was able to deliver Jesus in such a way 
and at such a time, as to avoid all possible 
outcry. Caiphas said, " Show him in that 
we may question him." And the porter went 
out, reappearing a moment later, with a man 
clothed in rough country clothing, and 
looking frightened. And lo ! it was Judas 
Iscariot, one of the Apostles. 

Just what it was that led Judas to resolve 
on such a wicked course is hard to say. 



THE BEGINNING OF THE END 153 

But of this we may be reasonably sure, — 
he was rotten at heart ; and, whatever may 
have been his motive for attaching himself 
to Jesus in the beginning, it was not long 
before his only reason for adhering to Him 
was the hope of a worldly reward. And 
when, little by little, that hope vanished, and 
the conviction grew and grew upon him that 
Jesus and His followers would be punished, 
he resolved to secure immunity for himself 
and win the promised reward, by becoming 
a traitor; and with this in view, he left his 
companions asleep at Bethany and came 
with his offer to the palace of the High 
Priest. 

Of course, his offer was accepted. And 
having received in advance the promised 
reward, — thirty pieces of silver, — he re- 
turned to Bethany to await his opportunity 
for putting his wicked resolution into effect. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH 

With the multitude embittered against 
Him, and with Judas only awaiting an 
opportunity to deliver Him to His enemies, 
it would seem that Jesus, to whom it all was 
known, should now withdraw to a place of 
safety. But no : it had been appointed for 
Him to die while celebrating this Passover; 
and He would not fail. 

According to the law, the feast of the Pass- 
over should always be celebrated in Jerusalem, 
and open of a Thursday evening with a 
supper. This supper was called the Pasch, 
and was eaten, not so much for the sake of 
satisfying hunger, as to recall a number of 
happenings which were precious in the 
memory of the nation. It consisted of a 
lamb roasted whole, bread baked without 
yeast, and herbs cooked in vinegar. The 
lamb was eaten to recall how, on the night 

154 



IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH 155 

when the Jews had been freed from Egypt's 
bondage, they had sprinkled the door-posts 
of their houses with the blood of a lamb, 
which had been God's appointed sign that 
they should be delivered; the bread baked 
without yeast, known as unleavened bread, 
recalled how, in the hurry and excitement of 
that night, there had not been time to wait 
for the dough to rise; and the herbs cooked 
in vinegar, recalled the bitterness of the ser- 
vitude from which the nation had been freed. 
All these things had to be explained, in the 
course of the supper, by the master of the 
feast ; then wine was drunk and psalms were 
sung. 

When, therefore, Thursday morning 
dawned, Jesus sent Peter and John to Jeru- 
salem, saying, " Go ye into the city to such a 
man, and say to Him, 'The Master saith, My 
time is near at hand, I will eat the Pasch at 
thy house with My disciples.' " And coming 
as they were directed, Peter and John found 
a large Upper Room all furnished and pre- 
pared. Here they made ready the lamb, the 
unleavened bread, and herbs cooked in vine- 



156 THE DIVINE STORY 

gar. And hither, when evening was come, 
Jesus made His way with His Apostles. 

Not a word was spoken as they journeyed, 
in little groups, over the Mount of Olives, 
and through the city streets. But hardly 
had they entered the Upper Room when 
the Apostles began to strive among them- 
selves, as to who should have the place of 
honor next to Jesus ; and there was a push- 
ing and an elbowing of one another, and 
low, hot, angry words. Deeply pained by 
their unseemly action, Jesus rebuked them, 
saying, " Let him that is greatest among you 
become as the least, and him that rules like 
unto him that serves." Whereupon they all 
began awkwardly to take the places that 
were nearest them. 

When all were seated, the Apostles bowed 
their heads in expectation of the words with 
which, according to the Law, Jesus should 
begin the supper. But no word fell. Jesus 
was silent. Lifting their heads, therefore, 
they looked at Him inquiringly. And as 
they looked, He arose from His place, went 
over to the side of the room, laid aside 






IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH 157 

his garments, girded Himself with a towel, 
and poured water into a basin. Then He 
came and knelt down before Peter and started 
to wash his feet. But Peter drew his feet away ; 
for he was still* conscious of the act of pride 
that he and his companions had just com- 
mitted, and he was abashed at this lesson of 
humility. He said, " Master, dost Thou wash 
my feet ? " Jesus looked up into his face, and 
said, "What I do, thou knowest not now, 
but thou shalt know hereafter." Still obdu- 
rate, Peter said, " Thou shalt never wash my 
feet." Jesus said unto him, " If I wash thee 
not, thou shalt have no part in Me." Then 
Peter, seeing that there was some other 
meaning behind the act, said, " Lord, not my 
feet alone, but also my hands and my head." 
Jesus said, " He that is washed, needs not 
but to wash his feet, and is wholly clean, and 
you are clean, but not all ; " by which words he 
referred to Judas. And when He had thus 
said, He bent down and washed Peter's feet, 
wiping them with the towel wherewith He 
was girded. Then going silently from one 
to another, He washed the feet of all; yea 



158 THE DIVINE STORY 

even of Judas, who, at that very moment, had 
it in his heart how he might betray Him. 

When they all had been washed, Jesus 
arose, and went over to the side of the room, 
and laid aside the towel, and put on His own 
garments again. Then He came, and sat 
down, and began the supper. 

No ceremony in the celebration was 
omitted. But one by one He passed around 
the different articles of food, and explained 
their meaning; and wine was drunk, and 
psalms were sung. 

Thus Jesus entered, as it were, into the 
valley of the shadow of death ; for with the 
Paschal supper, the feast of the Passover 
began, during which He was to die. Before 
His death should actually occur, however, 
there still remained one thing for Him to 
do. Long before, in the synagogue at Ca- 
pharnaum, He had promised that He would 
give His Flesh and Blood as food and drink 
unto everlasting life. And that promise had 
yet to be fulfilled. 

But even now there was an obstacle to the 
fulfilment of the promise; for Judas, though 



IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH 159 

he had been washed like all the rest, was not 
clean ; and cleanliness was to be an indispen- 
sable possession of those who should have 
a part in it. To get him to repent, there- 
fore, or to induce him to depart, Jesus said, 
while He looked upon him beseechingly, 
" Judas, that which thou dost, do quickly." 
This He said, however, in such a way 
that the other Apostles did not know 
what He meant; some thinking that He was 
sending Judas on an errand. But Judas 
knew; and resisting that appealing look, 
which had melted so many sinful hearts, he 
made his choice. And rising from his place 
at table, he left the room without a word. 

For a few moments after he had gone, 
Jesus was silent. He sat there sadly, with 
His head upon His breast. But at length, 
looking up, and allowing his gaze to rest 
lovingly on those who sat around, He said, 
" Now is the Son of Man glorified and God 
is glorified in Him." And while they all 
looked at Him, wondering what He meant, 
He arose and took bread from the table and 
blessed and broke and gave it to them, say- 



l60 THE DIVINE STORY 

ing, " Take ye and eat : this is My Body 
which shall be delivered for you : this do for 
the commemoration of Me." And then, tak- 
ing the chalice of wine, He gave thanks and 
blessed and gave that also to them, saying, 
" Drink ye all of this, for this is My Blood of 
the new testament which shall be shed for 
you and for many unto the remission of sins : 
this do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the 
commemoration of Me." 

His Body and His Blood! Like a flash, 
the Apostles went back in memory to that 
day at Capharnaum ; and they remembered 
that He had said that He would give His 
Flesh and Blood to eat and drink. They 
had not then understood how such a thing 
could be ; but still they had believed. 
And now their faith was being rewarded. 
For not only had He given them His Body 
and Blood as He had promised, but, what 
was more wonderful still, He had given them 
the power to give that same Body and Blood 
to others, — He had ordained them conse- 
crating priests. 

Then, as they all sat conscious of His liv- 



IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH 161 

ing Presence within them, He began to speak 
words of sad farewell. But when He saw the 
sorrow that filled their hearts, He promised 
that He would soon return to them again, 
and that one day He would send the Holy 
Spirit to abide with them forever. And, 
for a long time, He prayed for them, — pray- 
ing that His Heavenly Father might bless 
them, and bless all who, through them, might 
come to believe in Him. 

And when His prayer was finished, rising 
up, He went out to a large garden on the 
Mount of Olives, called Gethsemane, to 
which He had been accustomed to go for 
prayer; and the Apostles, filled with sorrow, 
followed Him. 



CHAPTER XXV 

ARRESTED 

The full moon was shining as they left the 
upper room ; and, looking like spectres in its 
pale light, they followed one another over one 
street, and down another, and out across the 
Cedron valley. Not a halt was made, not a 
word was spoken, till they reached a bridge 
that spanned a little stream which, like a 
silver thread, wound its way around the foot 
of the Mount of Olives. Here Jesus, who 
was leading, stood still and waited. Quickly 
the others came up and gathered round Him. 
They were filled with wonder, and stood there 
looking at Him, in silence, in the moonlight. 
He said, " To-night My enemies shall act 
against Me ; and you will fly ; and I shall be 
taken and suffer all those things which have 
been written in the Promise concerning Me." 
They were all indignant. They protested that 
they would never leave Him. Peter, more 

162 



ARRESTED 163 

indignant than the others, said, " Though 
all these should desert You, I shall not ; I 
am ready to go with You to prison and to 
death." Jesus replied, " Amen, Amen, I say 
unto thee, this night before the cock crows 
thou shalt thrice deny Me." Peter was 
wounded to the quick. He protested still 
more vehemently. He would never deny 
Him. Jesus did not answer, but turned and 
continued His journey up the mountain side. 
The Apostles, awed to silence, followed Him. 

No word was spoken till they reached the 
entrance to Gethsemane. Here Jesus halted 
again, and turned, and said, " Watch ye here 
and pray, while I go to pray in yonder." 
He entered into the shadow of the olive trees 
and knelt down. 

Dimly, dimly, we may see Him in the 
moonlight that shimmers through the 
branches of the trees. He lifts His face 
and hands to Heaven. He prays for cour- 
age to go on, and not to falter. Tempta- 
tions to turn back, like poisonous miasma 
rising from the ground, rise up within His 
heart : " Fly," they say ; " there is still time. 



164 THE DIVINE STORY 

Why should You go on? The whole populace 
will regard You as a sinner. You ! the Spot- 
less One, covered with sin ; how can You 
bear it ? Reflect that countless multitudes 
will refuse to take advantage of Your sacri- 
ficing death. Look down through the ages. 
Men despise You ; they deny You ; they spit 
in Your face. Consider the horrors that 
You must suffer. You will be mocked, and 
derided, and scourged, and nailed to a cross. 
Will You endure all these for thankless 
man ; or will You fly, and be free ? Decide ! " 
The alternative is terrible. Jesus trembles 
all over. He rises and comes out for con- 
solation from His followers at the gateway. 
In vain. They are sleeping. Hardly had 
He left them when they began to yawn, and 
settle themselves down, and go to sleep. 
He returns to the shadows. He falls pros- 
trate on the ground. Blood, like sweat, comes 
out all over His body. A low moan escapes 
Him. He cries aloud, " Father, if it be pos- 
sible, let this chalice pass from Me." Quickly 
He adds, " Not My will, but Thine, be done." 
Over and over again, He repeats, " Thy will 



ARRESTED 165 

be done ; Thy will be done." The words 
strengthen Him. His decision is made. He 
will die the death. Now little by little He be- 
comes calm. His agony passes. He rises to 
His knees again. A heavenly light envelops 
Him. Angels come and minister unto Him. 
He stands up. He comes out of the shadow, 
to the gateway. 

The Apostles are still sleeping. For a 
moment he looks upon them sadly. Pres- 
ently He rouses them, saying, "Behold, He 
is at hand that doth betray Me." They 
start up and look around wildly. Suddenly 
they see lighted torches moving up the moun- 
tain side. Nearer and nearer they come. 
Now those that carry them may be made out. 
They are priests and armed soldiers ; and 
at their head is Judas the Apostle. 

To understand how Judas has come to 
be followed by a band of priests and soldiers 
up the Mount of Olives, we must go back 
a space and follow his footsteps. On being 
requested by Jesus to decide definitely what 
he would do, he had gone immediately to 
the palace of the High Priest and announced 



l66 THE DIVINE STORY 

his readiness to carry out his promise. Cai- 
phas, glad to hear the news, placed at his 
disposal a number of priests and a detach- 
ment of his body-guard. With these, he 
made his way back to the scene of the Last 
Supper. On arriving there, he found that 
Jesus had already left, for it was then about 
midnight. But knowing that it was Jesus' 
custom, when passing over the Mount of 
Olives, to enter Gethsemane to pray, he 
asked his companions to accompany him 
thither. At first they refused, saying that 
the place was dark, and they would not be 
able to distinguish Jesus from His Apostles. 
But he promised to give them a sign, say- 
ing, "The one that I shall kiss shall be He; 
take Him and hold Him fast." So they con- 
sented ; and he led them out of the city, and 
across the Cedron valley, and up the side of 
the Mount of Olives. 

The Apostles, roused suddenly from their 
slumbers, see him with his followers, as he is 
drawing near the gateway ; and, filled with 
wonder, they watch him. When a short dis- 
tance away he stops and enters into consul- 




Jesus rises to His knees again, 
envelops Him.' 



A heavenly light 



[Page 165] 



ARRESTED 167 

tation with the Priests. Then he comes for- 
ward. He comes up to Jesus, and puts his 
hands upon His shoulders, and says, "Hail, 
Master," and kisses Him. Jesus looks at him 
appealingly, and says, "Judas, dost thou be- 
tray Me with a kiss?" He does not answer. 
He turns round and signals to the soldiers. 
They come forward. Jesus says, "Whom 
seek ye?" They answer, "Jesus of Naza- 
reth." He says, " I am He; come and take 
Me." Instead of coming forward, they fall 
backward on the ground. Jesus can escape; 
but no, He does not seem to wish to. It is 
as if He caused the soldiers to fall helpless, to 
show them that they are not going to take His 
life from Him, but that He Himself is going 
to lay it down. For presently He says, " If 
ye seek Me, come and take Me; only let 
these, My disciples, go their way." And the 
soldiers arise and come forward. 

All during this time the Apostles had been 
standing like men in a dream. But as they 
saw the soldiers coming forward, they roused 
themselves and began to interfere. Peter, — 
always the impulsive Peter, — drew a sword 



168 THE DIVINE STORY 

that he had buckled at his side, and struck 
out wildly, cutting off the right ear of one 
of the servants of the High Priest. Jesus 
touched the ear and healed it. He said to 
Peter, " Put up thy sword into its scabbard. 
I have only to ask My Father and immedi- 
ately He will send Me more than twelve 
legions of angels. But no; the chalice which 
My Father has given Me to drink, shall I not 
drink it?" It was a clear statement of His 
readiness to give Himself up to the power 
of His enemies. And, on hearing it, the 
Apostles became panic-stricken, and turned 
and fled. His enemies took Him and led 
Him away. 

For some time the Apostles fled without so 
much as daring to look back. But, at length, 
finding that no one pursued them, they 
stopped running, and two of them, Peter and 
John, turned about; and keeping at a safe 
distance, they followed the moving torches 
of the captors down the hill, and across the 
valley, and through the city streets. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

TRIED 

While all this had been happening at 
Gethsemane, Caiphas had been summoning 
the members of the Sanhedrin; and when 
they had all arrived, acquainting them with 
what had taken place, he sought their advice 
as to the best manner of putting Jesus to 
death. Some, no doubt, were for doing 
it secretly. But others, regarding such a 
course as calculated to arouse sympathy 
and admiration, suggested that He be first 
given a form of trial in their own court, 
where the capital offence of blasphemy might 
be fixed upon Him, and then that He be 
brought before the Roman governor, as a rev- 
olutionist and an enemy of Caesar. And as 
this plan gave an appearance of legality to 
their action, while at the same time it secured 
His death by crucifixion, (for that was the 

169 



170 THE DIVINE STORY 

punishment meted out to revolutionists) it 
was adopted. Accordingly the council room 
was made ready, and men, known to be 
willing to swear falsely, were summoned to 
act as witnesses. 

Scarcely had the necessary preparations 
been completed, when loud commands and 
noisy tramplings in the courtyard announced 
that the soldiers had returned with their 
Prisoner. And the order being given, Jesus 
was immediately conducted to the council 
room, — His hands bound behind Him, His 
hair dishevelled, a look of unspeakable sad- 
ness upon His countenance. 

When He had been led to the place allotted 
to Him in front of the High Priest's throne, 
and the hum of excitement created by His 
appearance had subsided, Caiphas stood up 
arrayed in all the dignity of his office and 
began to question Him. But when He 
started to answer, one of the guards that 
stood beside Him, thinking to win favor 
from the High Priest, turned and struck 
Him fiercely on the mouth. Whereupon He 
meekly bowed His head and held His peace. 



TRIED 



171 



Then Caiphas sat down, and the witnesses 
were called. 

One after another the witnesses entered, and 
took the stand, and gave their testimony. 
But there was a discrepancy among them, 
one saying one thing and another another. 
So Caiphas, growing impatient, dismissed 
them, and again arose and began to address 
Jesus. 

" You have heard the testimony of these 
men," he said; "what have you to say to it?" 
But Jesus was silent. Indeed, from the mo- 
ment that the guard struck Him, He seemed 
to take but little interest in what was going 
on, but just kept looking before Him, with 
a rapt expression on His face, as though He 
saw some one standing there behind the High 
Priest's chair. This silence greatly annoyed 
Caiphas; for he saw clearly that the false 
witnesses had proved nothing, and that un- 
less Jesus Himself should speak, it would 
be utterly impossible to attach even the 
slightest stain of guilt upon Him. So, step- 
ping forward, he lifted his right arm dramati- 
cally and cried out, " Jesus of Nazareth, I 



i;2 THE DIVINE STORY 

adjure Thee by the Living God, that Thou 
answer me and tell us plainly if Thou be 
Christ, the Son of God." 

It was as if Jesus had been waiting for 
this very question. For instantly, on hear- 
ing it, He looked fixedly at the High Priest, 
and answered solemnly, while a striking 
majesty enveloped His whole being as with 
light, "I am indeed; and verily, I say unto 
you that hereafter you shall see Me sitting 
on the right hand of the power of God, and 
coming in the clouds of heaven." 

It was enough. No clearer statement 
could be desired. And Caiphas, turning 
excitedly to the members of the Sanhedrin, 
cried out, " What need we of further wit- 
nesses ? You have heard Him. He has 
claimed to be the very equal to the great, 
almighty God. What think ye?" And 
they all shook their heads and answered, 
" It is blasphemy. He is guilty of death." 

Thus Jesus was condemned, — not because 
He had broken any law, or raised a tumult, 
but because when asked solemnly by the 
highest religious authority in the land, He 



TRIED 173 

had confessed, and had not denied, that He 
was the very Son of the Living God. 

It was then about three o'clock in the morn- 
ing. But, as the Roman governor would not 
listen to cases until dawn, at least three hours 
must pass before the members of the Sanhe- 
drin could proceed to the second step in their 
diabolical plan. During this interval Jesus 
was handed over to the custody of the sol- 
diers. And the soldiers, knowing how in- 
tensely the High Priest hated Him, took Him 
to their guard-room, and subjected Him to 
all manner of abuse and cruelty. They tossed 
Him about from one to another ; they spat 
in His face; they jeered at Him; and recall- 
ing that the people had regarded Him as a 
Prophet, they blindfolded Him, and smote 
Him, crying out tauntingly, all the while, 
" Prophesy ! Prophesy ! " 

These were indeed terrible happenings, 
and, in themselves, are sufficient to keep us 
from ever forgetting those fateful hours be- 
tween three o'clock and dawn. Yet they are 
not the only incidents for which that period 
must be forever memorable. For at that 



174 THE DIVINE STORY 

same time also, Judas, repenting of his crime, 
was giving himself up to despair, and commit- 
ting suicide ; while Peter, the Rock, was 
playing the part of traitor. 

Just what it was that led Judas to repent 
we do not know. It may have been the open 
injustice of the trial, or it may have been our 
Lord's solemn declaration that He was the 
very Son of God. But whatever the cause 
may have been, he did, indeed, repent. In 
the beginning, his repentance may have 
been hardly more than a superficial regret; 
but little by little, it ate its way deeper and 
deeper into his soul, till at length it over- 
powered him; and making his way excit- 
edly to the room where the members of the 
Sanhedrin were waiting, he burst in upon 
them, crying out, " I am guilty in that I 
have betrayed innocent blood." Perhaps 
he thought that this confession would lead 
them to revoke their sentence. But if so, 
he was most cruelly disappointed. For they 
only looked at him in withering scorn and 
said indifferently, "What is that to us? see 
thou to it." And their answer, so callous 



TRIED 175 

and unjust, brought home to him the full 
heinousness of his crime. And despairing 
of ever receiving pardon, he threw the pieces 
of silver wildly into the room, and went out 
and hanged himself. 

Thus Judas erred in lacking confidence in 
our Lord's willingness to forgive. Peter on 
the contrary, sinned as a result of an over- 
weening confidence in his own power to re- 
sist temptation. 

Peter had been warned by Jesus that he 
would deny Him, and had been urged to 
watch and pray; but he had utterly disre- 
garded the warning and recommendation ; for 
he not only went to sleep at the gateway of 
Gethsemane, as we have seen, but, what was 
more flagrant still, he even followed the 
soldiers with their Captive into the very 
mouth of danger, — the courtyard of the 
High Priest. For a time after his arrival in 
the courtyard, nothing significant happened ; 
for, although the place was crowded with 
people, they were all taken up with the dis- 
cussion of Jesus' capture, and had no time to 
give to strangers. He, therefore, made his 



176 THE DIVINE STORY 

way to the very centre, where there was a fire, 
about which a number of men and women 
were gathered; for the night was cold. But 
as he stood there, holding his hands out to 
the fire, and listening to the talk, the blaze 
lighted up his face, and one of the women 
servants, noticing him, came over and said, 
"Were you not with this man Jesus?" 
Taken completely off his guard, he answered 
quickly, " I do not even know the Man." 

Though this incident did not stir Peter's 
conscience, it made him cautious; and, leav- 
ing the circle round the fire, he made his way 
over to the shadow of the building. But 
his manner was suspicious ; and, by and by, 
he was noticed by another woman servant, 
who coming up to him, said, " Surely, you 
were with Jesus of Nazareth." But again 
he denied, and this time with an oath, say- 
ing, " I tell you I do not even know the 
Man." 

At this second challenge he was thoroughly 
frightened ; and, no doubt, he would have left 
the place immediately, had he not been most 
anxious to hear what had been done with 



TRIED 



177 



Jesus. For greater safety, however, he went 
over to one of the corners of the courtyard 
and remained there in the darkness. For 
some time he continued to remain there all 
alone. But, at length, finding that no one 
bothered him, and being naturally of an au- 
dacious character, he made his way to a little 
group of men who stood near, and inquired 
what had been, decided with regard to Jesus. 

Now the speech of a Galilean was quite 
different from that of a resident of Jerusalem ; 
the accent of many words was peculiar and 
easily distinguished. No sooner, therefore, 
had he spoken, then, than one of the men 
turned sharply to him and said, "You must 
certainly be one of Jesus' disciples; for your 
speech betrays you." But he began to pro- 
test and to swear most vehemently that he 
did not even know Jesus. 

This third challenge, however, was the last 
straw. It convinced Peter that to remain 
any longer in the courtyard would be to run 
certain risk of being seized ; so he started to 
leave. Cautiously he made his way, in the 
shadow, past the groups of soldiers and ser- 



178 THE DIVINE STORY 

vants of the High Priest, and he was just 
about to pass through the gateway, when, of 
a sudden, a cock in a neighboring farmyard 
crowed lustily. Instantly, on hearing the 
sound, Peter remembered the Master's proph- 
ecy. And going out, he wept bitter tears of 
sorrow. And, on account of this sorrow, 
Jesus pardoned him; even as He would have 
pardoned Judas, had Judas but put his trust 
in Him. 



CHAPTER XXVII 



CONDEMNED 



As soon as morning dawned, the soldiers 
led Jesus from the guard-room, and out 
across the courtyard, and through the streets, 
to the house of the Roman governor, — the 
members of the Sanhedrin, and the priests, 
and servants of Caiphas, following in a long 
procession. 

All along the line of march the people, 
roused rudely from their slumber by the tram- 
pling of feet at such an unusual hour, kept 
putting their sleepy-looking heads out of the 
windows, calling out fearfully, " What's the 
matter ? What has happened ? " And when 
the many-voiced answer ever came back, 
" Jesus of Nazareth has been taken and is 
being led to the governor for judgment," 
they hastened to dress themselves and follow 
after. So by the time the procession arrived 
at the palace, it was an ever increasing 
multitude. 

179 



l8o THE DIVINE STORY 

Pontius Pilate, for that was the governor's 
name, was eating breakfast when the multi- 
tude arrived. But, on hearing the disturb- 
ance, he hurried out on the porch to learn 
what it was all about. A great shout greeted 
him as he appeared ; but it died down quickly, 
and a deep silence fell, when he raised his 
hand. For a moment he stood there, like 
a statue in bronze, looking out upon the 
scene, — his body erect, his arms folded, his 
features stern and set, his loose robe falling 
in graceful folds from his broad shoulders. 
Then, after a moment, he came forward ; 
and leaning over the railing, which ran 
around the porch, he said to the leaders 
who stood nearest him, " Wherefore are ye 
come at this unusual hour ? " " We are 
here," they replied, pushing Jesus forward, 
"to receive your judgment upon this male- 
factor." " Why," he asked, " what evil hath 
He done ? " They answered, " He hath coun- 
selled the people not to give tribute to Caesar, 
claiming Himself to be a King." 

Now to Pilate, this was a very likely charge ; 
for he knew well how bitterly the Jews hated 



CONDEMNED l8l 

the Roman yoke, and how, often before, lead- 
ers had arisen and stirred the people to 
wild riot and disorder. Indeed, at that very 
moment, a man named Barabbas was in 
prison awaiting death for that very thing. 
So he stopped for a moment and looked hard 
at Jesus. And, whether on account of Jesus' 
youth, for He was but thirty-three years old, 
or whether on account of something that he 
saw in Jesus' face, a look, as it were, of pity 
spread itself over his rough and cruel features; 
and turning abruptly to the priests, he said, 
" I will examine this matter further ; come ye 
with me and bring the Prisoner into the 
judgment hall." But they refused, saying, 
" It is forbidden to us to enter the house of a 
pagan on the feast of Passover ; take Him you 
and examine Him." So he took Him, and 
went into the council chamber, and closed 
the door. 

Once within the council chamber, Pilate 
seated himself upon his judgment seat, and 
caused Jesus to stand before him. Then he 
began to examine Him. He questioned Him 
about His life and doctrines ; to which Jesus 



1 82 THE DIVINE STORY 

replied by making it clear that He had sought 
only to lead men to the Truth. He asked 
Him about His claim to be a King ; where- 
upon Jesus explained that, though indeed He 
was a King, His Kingdom was not such as 
to give a worldly king any reason for alarm. 
He inquired about His life and followers ; 
to which Jesus gave straightforward and 
satisfactory answers. And so the upshot of 
it all was that he saw clearly that Jesus was 
innocent of any crime. 

With this conclusion arrived at, therefore, 
he went out to the porch again. And lead- 
ing Jesus forward to the railing, he said, 
" I have examined this Man, in accordance 
with your request, and find no fault in Him." 
Perhaps he thought that that would put an 
end to the matter. But if so, he was mis- 
taken ; for hardly had he finished his words, 
when the whole multitude, led on by the chief 
priests, began to cry out fiercely, " He is 
guilty; He is guilty; He hath stirred up the 
whole nation, beginning with Galilee, even to 
this place ; " and pandemonium reigned. 

Now this demonstration puzzled Pilate; for 



CONDEMNED 183 

he knew that ordinarily the Jews held in 
highest honor a man guilty of rousing the 
people to revolution. But, as he stood there, 
looking out upon the wildly agitated scene, 
the conviction slowly dawned upon him that 
the priests had some private grievance, and 
that their only reason for accusing Jesus 
as a revolutionist was that they might secure 
His death by crucifixion. And he resolved 
then and there not to be a party to their 
scheme. 

He might have escaped from the difficulty 
by simply setting Jesus free, as he had the 
right and power to do. But he was an arrant 
coward at heart, and feared to go directly 
against the people's will, lest they should rise 
up in revolt. Hence he decided to extricate 
himself by strategy. 

His first plan was to try to shift the whole 
matter to another tribunal. For he had noticed 
that the leaders, in their accusation, had said 
that Jesus was from Galilee, and Herod, the 
king of Galilee, happened, at the time, to be in 
Jerusalem. Accordingly, he sent Jesus, with 
some of His accusers, across the city to the 



1 84 THE DIVINE STORY 

court of Herod. But Herod only treated 
Him as a fool, and sent Him back again. 

This scheme having failed, Pilate deter- 
mined upon another. This time it was to try- 
to get the priests to consent to a milder form 
of punishment. He, therefore, took Jesus 
again before them and said, " I have exam- 
ined this Man, as you requested, and have 
found Him innocent. There is, therefore, 
absolutely no reason for punishing Him. 
Nevertheless, to please you, I will, before 
letting Him go, severely chastise Him." 
The proposal, however, met with such great 
opposition that he hastened to retract it, and 
to promise that he would give the matter 
further consideration. 

His next move, no doubt, would have been 
to sentence Jesus to death. But at that mo- 
ment, he received a message from his wife 
which said, " Have thou nothing to do with 
the condemnation of that Just Man ; for I 
have suffered many things this day in a 
dream because of Him ; " and, being a super- 
stitious man, he resolved to make another 
attempt to set Jesus free. 



CONDEMNED 185 

This time he tried a subterfuge. He 
made a long speech in which he dwelt with 
great emphasis upon the fact that every year, 
on the occasion of the Passover, the Roman 
Governors had been good enough to pardon 
some Jew who had been found guilty of a 
capital offence ; and he went on to say that 
this year, it would be his happy privilege 
to continue that good and gracious custom, 
by liberating Jesus. But hardly was he able 
to finish when the whole multitude, led on 
by the chief priests, began to shout, " No ; 
not Jesus, but Barabbas. Release unto us 
Barabbas." " But," he said, as soon as he 
could be heard above the din, "what shall 
I do with Jesus ? " " Crucify Him ; crucify 
Him," came back the fearful cry. "Why," 
he said again, while the cold perspiration 
stood out upon his forehead, " what evil has 
He done ? " For answer, they only cried 
more fiercely, " Crucify Him ; crucify Him." 
So throwing up his hands and bowing his 
head as a sign that he would do their will, he 
ordered Barabbas to be freed, while Jesus, 
he gave over to his soldiers, to be scourged. 



1 86 THE DIVINE STORY 

Scourging was a form of punishment 
meted out to every criminal condemned to 
die upon a cross. It consisted in stripping 
the victim, and tying him to a pillar, and 
beating him with rods until he was nearly 
dead. Accordingly the soldiers came and 
took Jesus to the scourging room. Here 
they stripped Him of His garments, and tied 
Him to a pillar. Then they beat Him with 
their scourges until His blood flowed from 
a hundred wounds, and His body became one 
great, bleeding sore. They did all that the 
law prescribed, and more. And yet their 
scorn for Him remained unsatisfied. They 
were Romans, and he was a Jew, — a Jew 
despised by the very Jews themselves ; the 
very scum of the earth ; and yet He claimed 
to be a King ! Was ever anything heard of, 
so ridiculous ! They will show Him what 
kind of a king He is. Quickly they bring 
an old purple rag and throw it over His torn 
and bleeding shoulder, — it is His royal 
mantle. They plait some thorns and press 
them on His brow, — His kingly crown. 
They fetch a rickety stool and sit Him on 



CONDEMNED 1 87 

it, — He is on His throne. He must have a 
sceptre. Quick ! A reed is put into His 
bound and helpless hands. Now the King is 
ready to receive the homage of His subjects. 
They form in line, and one after another, 
they come before Him. They bow down low ; 
they say in mock reverence : " Hail, King of 
the Jews ; " they rise up ; they smite Him ; 
they push Him rudely; they spit in His face ; 
they jeer and laugh at Him in scorn. 

But suddenly, in the midst of their mock- 
ing, they are startled by a great wave of 
angry shouts and cries. It is the Jews with- 
out, clamoring that Jesus be led to crucifix- 
ion. So quickly throwing His own robe 
upon Him, they lead Him out to Pilate. 

The sight of Jesus with His face covered 
with blood, and spittle, and His head with a 
crown of thorns, touched even Pilate's pagan 
heart. And resolving to make one last at- 
tempt to set Him free, he led Him down 
to the railing again, and drew the multitude's 
attention to His weakened and sorrowful con- 
dition. But the sight only roused the crowd 
to still greater fury, and they cried, " Away 



1 88 THE DIVINE STORY 

with Him; away with Him; crucify Him; 
if thou let Him go, thou art no friend of 
Caesar." 

This threat of appealing to Caesar had the 
desired effect; for Pilate's rule had been full of 
mismanagement, and he feared that an appeal 
to the Emperor might lead to an investigation 
and consequent disgrace. Crushing, there- 
fore, all other feeling, whether of justice, or 
of compassion, or of superstitious dread, he 
ordered his judgment seat brought out upon 
the porch ; and seating himself upon it, he 
formally condemned Jesus to a death upon 
the cross. But then, as if anxious to wash 
away the stain of the crime he was commit- 
ting, he called for water, and there, in the 
presence of all, he washed his hands, saying, 
" I am innocent of the death of this Just 
Man." But the multitude only cried out 
wildly, " His blood be upon us and upon our 
children." 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED 

Crucifixion consisted in nailing the vic- 
tim, hand and foot, to a wooden cross, at the 
top of which had been fastened a sign stating 
the crime for which he had been condemned, 
and then raising him aloft and allowing him 
to hang until he died. It always took place 
a short distance outside the city gate, on the 
summit of a little hill called Calvary, or Gol- 
gotha, which means a skull ; and thither, on 
the morning of his execution, the condemned 
man walked, his cross upon his shoulder, and 
a guard of soldiers and a hooting mob sur- 
rounding him. 

It is almost eight o'clock as the procession 
of which Jesus is the central figure issues 
from the High Priest's courtyard. First 
comes a man, bearing aloft, on the end of a 
long pole, a rough board, on which is 
scrawled, " King of the Jews " ; it is the title 



190 THE DIVINE STORY 

of the crime for which Jesus is going to die. 
Then comes Jesus, — His head crowned with 
thorns, His face disfigured with blood and 
spittle, His robe covered with ugly stains, 
His body bent under the weight of a rough 
cross, whose long beam is dragging painfully 
behind Him. He is accompanied by two 
men, who, for vile crimes, have been con- 
demned to a similar death. They also are 
bent under heavy crosses. Surrounding him 
and them, is a guard of Roman soldiers, — 
great, huge fellows, who look fierce, as they 
glance, right and left, under their heavy, brass 
helmets. A shouting, jeering multitude 
surges on every side. While away off in the 
distance, is the Virgin Mother, and a little 
group of sympathizing friends. 

Jesus has become so utterly exhausted 
from the loss of sleep, the agony in the gar- 
den, the horrors of the guard-room, and the 
scourging in the palace, that He seems hardly 
able to stand. He staggers and stumbles, as 
He walks. Ere long He falls ; but rises im- 
mediately and stumbles on. He falls again; 
but again He rises, and staggers forward. A 



CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED 191 

third time He sinks ; and this time the cross 
falls heavily upon Him, crushing Him to the 
ground. He tries to proceed, but cannot. 
The procession halts. The soldiers strike 
Him and urge Him on with curses. In vain. 
He struggles to His feet, only to fall back 
as soon as the cross is laid upon His shoul- 
der. The soldiers become furious. They are 
only at the city gate, and Calvary is still some 
distance away. They will never get through 
with their hateful work. What is to be done ? 
Plainly, some one must carry the cross for 
Jesus. But who ? They look about. The 
people all draw back in horror. No one will 
touch the accursed thing. Here is a country- 
man, named Simon of Cyrene, entering the 
city gate. He must carry the cross. They 
seize upon him. They lay the cross upon 
his shoulder. They urge him on. The pro- 
cession moves again, with Jesus dragging 
Himself painfully after Simon. It climbs 
the side of the hill. It reaches the execution 
ground. 

Simon is glad to be at his journey's end. 
He throws the cross from him. He throws it 



192 THE DIVINE STORY 

with a swing, and it falls with a heavy thud 
upon the ground. He runs and mingles with 
the people who are hurrying to get places of 
vantage around the execution ground. The 
soldiers bring Jesus over to the middle, and 
strip Him of His garments. He stands 
there naked. One of them brings a stupe- 
fying drink, which is always given to men 
about to be crucified, and holds it to His 
lips. He pushes it away. He does not want 
it. He prefers to suffer His tortures with 
a clear mind. The soldier casts the goblet, 
with its contents, to the ground, and helps 
his companions to crucify Jesus. They take 
Him and throw Him upon the cross. They 
stretch out His arms and drive nails through 
the palms. They drive the nails through the 
flesh, and into the hard wood. Blood spurts 
up into their faces, which they wipe with the 
back of their hands. The people are standing 
about looking on. They gloat, nodding to 
one another, and uttering ejaculations of satis- 
faction. Jesus marks them. He raises His 
agonized eyes to heaven and says, " Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they 



193 

do." The soldiers stretch down His legs, and 
drive nails through the instep. They drive 
the nails between the bones, and into a little 
triangular block that has been fastened to 
the upright beam. One of the soldiers 
runs and gets the sign, " King of the Jews." 
He nails it to the short upright piece of the 
cross above Jesus' head. Everything is now 
ready for the raising. Two soldiers go to 
the foot of the cross, and stoop down, and 
hold it against the ground. Four others 
take hold of it by the arms, and lift it up. 
Higher and higher it mounts. The multi- 
tudes are waving their hands, and shouting 
madly. It is upright. Straining every mus- 
cle, the soldiers lift it clear of the ground, 
and bring it over to a hole that has been 
made ready to receive it. They drop it into 
the hole, with a cruel jolt that convulses 
every muscle in Jesus' body. It slants over 
to one side. They straighten it. Blood falls, 
in great drops, into their upturned faces. 
Some of them hold the cross straight, while 
others shovel earth into the hole. They 
make it secure. Jesus is crucified. 



194 THE DIVINE STORY 

After Jesus has been crucified the soldiers 
proceed to the task of crucifying the two 
criminals. Them also they lift up, the one 
on the right, the other on the left of Jesus. 
And so, at last, their hateful work is over; 
and they look with grim satisfaction at the 
three crosses, with their writhing victims, 
standing out sharply against the sky. 

The crucifying of Jesus was finished in 
the morning ; and He did not die till three 
o'clock in the afternoon. His agony, there- 
fore, lasted several hours, of which three were 
passed in darkness ; for at noon, the sun, 
as if out of sympathy, hid its face, and 
night, like a great black pall, covered all the 
land. 

It were almost blasphemy to pretend fully 
to describe Jesus' sufferings during that dread- 
ful time. They were beyond the power of the 
human mind even to conceive. One may, 
however, sit in reverent awe and contemplate 
Him as He hangs there, surrounded by the 
hooting, jeering multitude, and listen to the 
precious words that fall, at varying intervals, 
from His parched and quivering lips. 



CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED 195 

His thorn-crowned head is hanging over 
to one side ; His eyes are starting from their 
sockets ; His mouth is half open ; His fea- 
tures are drawn and tense ; blood, from the 
wounds in the palms of His hands, is flowing 
along His arms ; and from the wounds in 
His feet, it is purpling the wood of the 
cross and the soil in which the cross is 
standing. The multitude is all gesticulating 
and shouting wildly. Now and again, one 
of them comes and stands before the cross, 
and wags his head at Jesus, and spits up at 
Him, and says tauntingly, " Thou hast saved 
others, Thyself Thou canst not save." The 
soldiers join in the taunting. From their 
places on guard, they shout, " If Thou be the 
King of the Jews, come down from the cross, 
and we also will believe in Thee." Even 
one of the criminals that has been crucified, 
catches the infection, and cries out scornfully, 
" If Thou be the Christ, save Thyself and us." 

Jesus answers them not. He bears their 
taunts even as He bears the agonies of His 
body, — silently and uncomplainingly. One 
of the criminals who has been crucified with 



196 THE DIVINE STORY 

Him, — the one who has not reviled, — is im- 
pressed by this forbearance. A wave of sud- 
den sorrow for his misdeeds comes over him. 
He remonstrates with his companion, who 
has joined in the mocking. " Fie on thee ! " 
he says. " We are receiving but the just 
reward of our evil deeds, but this Man hath 
done nothing amiss." Jesus hears the words. 
A look of gratitude spreads over His ago- 
nized face, and turning His head painfully so 
that the repentant criminal may see His divine 
countenance, He says softly, " Amen, Amen, 
I say unto thee, this day thou shalt be with 
Me in paradise." The multitude shout wildly 
in derision. The promise seems so ridiculous. 
Jesus minds them not. He lapses into silence 
again. Slowly the awful minutes pass. Dark- 
ness begins to fall, and the multitudes be- 
coming weary of their unanswered mockings, 
have begun to depart, group after group, for 
the city. The Blessed Mother and the 
Apostles, who have been watching from a 
distance, approach and gather round the 
foot of the cross. Mary, broken-hearted, 
looks sadly up at Jesus; and as she does, 




" Mary, broken-hearted, looks sadly up at Jesus. 



[Page 196] 



197 

her face becomes, as it were, illumined, as 
though a light had radiated from the Sacred 
Body. Near her is the Apostle whom Jesus 
loves the best. Jesus sees fhem. He says, 
" Mother, behold thy son ; son, behold thy 
Mother," meaning thereby that henceforth 
John should take care of Mary. 

Again all is silent, save for the low sobs 
of the Blessed Mother. Jesus just hangs 
and hangs there in the darkness, with the 
weight of His body tugging and tugging 
at the nails in His hands and feet. Slowly, 
slowly, the awful minutes pass. They are 
like minutes of eternity. It is only two 
o'clock. Another hour drags slowly by. 
At length Jesus speaks. He speaks four 
times, one sentence quickly following the 
other. First, " I thirst." A moment later, 
" My God, My God, w r hy hast Thou forsaken 
Me?" Faintly, "It is finished." And last 
of all, " Father, into Thy hands I commend 
My spirit." And with these words, He utters 
a loud, unintelligible cry, and droops His 
head and dies. 

At the very instant that Jesus died, all 



198 THE DIVINE STORY 

nature, as if to give testimony to who He 
was, became convulsed. The earth quaked ; 
rocks burst asunder; graves gave up their 
dead ; and the sun, which for hours had hid 
itself, suddenly shone forth again in all its 
splendor. And to this testimony of nature, 
the testimony of man was also added. For 
one of the soldiers, inspired by God, cried 
out, with a cry that could be heard above 
the din, " This was indeed the Son of God." 
Soon Pilate was notified that all was 
over; and having made sure of Jesus' death, 
by causing His side to be pierced with a 
spear, he gave permission to two disciples 
of Jerusalem, named Joseph and Nicodemus, 
to take the body and bury it. Accordingly, 
these two brought a ladder and took Jesus 
down from the cross. And then, without 
taking time to embalm His body, for the 
hour was late, they wrapped it up in linen 
cloths, according to the manner of burying 
of the Jews, and bore it sadly down the hill, 
and over to a garden, where there was a tomb 
hewn in a rock, wherein never man before was 
laid. Behind them, Mary and the Apostles 



CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED 199 

followed in a sad procession. When they 
reached the tomb, Mary arranged Jesus in it 
with her own hands. Then they all came and 
took their final look ; and sadly withdrew. 

As they were leaving the garden, they met 
a detachment of the High Priest's soldiers. 
These soldiers were coming to guard the 
tomb; for the leaders had said, "Unless a 
guard is placed, the Apostles may come and 
steal Jesus' body." And all that night, and 
the next day, and the next night, the soldiers 
kept their gruesome watch. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

THE THIRD DAY 

In the tomb with our Lord's body were 
buried also all the hopes of the Apostles. For 
though they had been frequently told by Him 
that He would rise again, the event had been 
so utterly without precedent, that they had 
not been able to grasp. His meaning. Hence 
they decided to return, when the Sabbath 
was over, to their homes in Galilee. And 
with this determination, they passed that 
night, Friday, and Saturday, and Saturday 
night, and rose on Sunday morning. 

Besides the Apostles, however, many other 
persons from Galilee, had followed Jesus to 
Jerusalem, and been present at His crucifix- 
ion. Of these, three women, known as Mary 
Magdalen, Salome, and Mary, the mother of 
James, decided that, before returning home, 
they would first go and embalm His body, — 
an office, which, on account of the lateness of 



THE THIRD DAY 201 

the hour of His death, on the eve of the Sab- 
bath, had been omitted. Accordingly, very 
early that Sunday morning, like flitting 
shadows, they made their way through the 
city streets, and out along the country road 
to the burial place. As they hurried along, 
one of them expressed the fear lest, even with 
their united strength, they might not be able 
to remove the stone that had been rolled 
over against the opening of the tomb. On 
entering the garden, however, they saw, to 
their great surprise, that the stone had been 
already rolled away. They, therefore, hastened 
their steps, and came and peered within ; and 
their hearts sank, for the tomb was empty. 

Filled with a nameless dread, they turned 
around and started for the city to tell the 
Apostles. They ran all the way; and bursting 
into the Upper Room, Mary Magdalen said 
breathlessly, " They have taken away the 
Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not 
where they have laid Him." It was as if a 
thunderbolt had burst in the room. In a 
twinkling all was hubbub and confusion, — 
with the Apostles all starting up, and crowd- 



202 THE DIVINE STORY 

ing around Mary, and calling out to her to 
tell them what she knew. But Peter and 
John, without waiting to hear anything fur- 
ther, started for the tomb to examine for them- 
selves. They both ran as fast as they could. 
But John, being the younger, outran Peter 
and arrived first. But he entered not in. 
Then Peter came up breathless with running. 
And he entered straightway, John following. 

A single glance revealed the truth of 
Mary's words. Only the napkin and linen 
cloths in which Jesus' body had been wrapped 
were to be seen ; and they were lying in dif- 
ferent places, at the head and foot, as 
though His flesh had melted away and al- 
lowed them to fall through. The Apostles 
searched every corner; they went out and 
walked slowly around the tomb, — but all in 
vain. They could find no trace of those who 
had taken Jesus away. Deeply puzzled, 
therefore, and sad at heart, they returned to 
the Upper Room to discuss the matter with 
the other Apostles. 

Mary Magdalen, however, who in the 
meantime had come out again to the sepul- 



THE THIRD DAY 203 

chre, remained behind. She had been the 
recipient of many mercies at the hand of 
Jesus, and felt that she could not leave 
the spot until she had some tidings of what 
had happened to Him. So she stood there, 
all alone, gazing broken-heartedly about, and 
weeping softly to herself. By and by, more 
out of intense yearning, than curiosity, she 
came and sat down on the stone that had 
been rolled over against the tomb, and which 
was now lying upon the ground, and peered 
into the dark opening. She looked and 
looked. Of a sudden two angels appeared, 
the one at the head and the other at the feet, 
where the body of Jesus had been laid. They 
said to her, " Woman, why weepest thou ? " 
She answered, " Because they have taken 
away the body of my Lord, and I know 
not where they have laid Him." As she 
was speaking, Some One behind her said, 
" Woman, whom seekest thou ? " Quickly 
she arose and turned around. And there, a 
short distance from her, she saw a Man. 
It looked to her as if He might be the 
gardener, so she said eagerly, " Oh ! Sir, if 



204 THE DIVINE STORY 

thou hast borne Him hence, tell me where 
thou hast laid Him, and I will come and 
take Him away." The Man spoke again, 
but this time in an accent so sweet and 
familiar that her eyes were opened; and, with 
a joyful cry, she started forward as if to 
throw herself at His sacred feet. For it was 
the Lord. But He gently checked her, say- 
ing : " Come not near me now, for I am not 
ascended to My Father. But go to My 
brethren and say to them that I ascend 
to My Father and to your Father, to My 
God and to your God." And immediately 
she returned to the Upper Room and told 
the disciples that she had seen the Lord and 
that He had spoken these things to her. 




Some One behind her said, ' Woman, whom seekest thou ? ' ' 

[Page 203] 



CHAPTER XXX 

ALIVE AGAIN 

The Apostles and many other men disci- 
ples, who by this time had gathered in the 
Upper Room, listened eagerly to Mary's 
story. But when she had finished, they 
shook their heads, and refused to believe 
her, saying that she had become distraught 
by the harrowing events of the last few 
days, and only imagined that she had seen 
and heard these things. And many of them, 
deciding that nothing further was to be 
gained by remaining any longer in the city, 
began to take their sad departure for their 
homes. 

Among the first to leave were two great, 
large-hearted, and hard-headed men who lived 
in a little village about eight miles away, 
called Emmaus. Their hearts were filled 
with gloomy thoughts ; and they walked 
along with bowed heads, talking over the 

205 



206 THE DIVINE STORY 

sad events of the past few days. Suddenly, 
when they reached a point where the road 
skirted the foot of a great, high hill, they 
were accosted by Some One, from behind, 
who asked them if He might not accompany 
them. Turning about quickly they beheld a 
tall, mysterious-looking Man, clothed in a 
white, flowing garment, and having all about 
His figure the faintest suggestion of a fringe 
of light. They were greatly surprised that 
He should have come so close to them with- 
out their having become aware of His 
approach, but they only said, "We shall be 
glad to have You." And then, taking a 
place, one on either side of Him, they 
resumed their journey. 

After the first friendly greetings had 
passed, the Stranger turned to one of the 
disciples, whose name was Cleophas, and 
said, " What were you talking about as you 
journeyed together and why do you look so 
sad ? " Cleophas replied, " You must indeed 
be a newcomer in these parts not to know 
the great things that have come to pass in 
Jerusalem during the last few days, and 



ALIVE AGAIN 207 

about which everybody is talking." " What 
things ? " the Stranger asked. " Concerning 
Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet, 
mighty in word and deed, before God and all 
the people," said Cleophas. And then, taking 
up the story of Jesus' life, he went on to tell 
the Stranger how the disciples had grown 
to look upon Jesus as the great expected 
King, but how, only three days before, their 
hopes had been crushed by His having been 
put to death. Here, his emotions overcame 
him, and the other disciple took up the 
narrative, and went on to tell of the events 
of that morning, — how some of the women 
had gone early to the tomb and found it 
empty; and how they had brought back 
strange stories of having met the Lord ; and 
how some of the men had gone to investi- 
gate, and found the tomb empty, but saw no 
trace of Jesus. 

The Stranger listened to all these things 
without a word. But when they were ended, 
He turned abruptly to the disciples, and up- 
braided them, saying, " O foolish men, and 
slow of heart to believe! " Then He took up 



208 THE DIVINE STORY 

the great Promise, as recorded in the Bible, 
and going through every part of it, He showed 
that it had all been perfectly fulfilled in the 
very Man whose fate was being deplored. 

The disciples were thrilled with emotion 
as they listened to the Stranger's explanation 
of the Scriptures ; and their hearts went out 
to Him in a way they could not understand. 
And when, at length, Emmaus was reached, 
and He made as if He would continue farther, 
they besought Him to go in with them, say- 
ing, "Abide with us, for it is towards evening, 
and the day is far spent." And He consented 
and went in with them. By and by, when 
supper was prepared, He sat down with them 
to eat. And it came to pass, as He sat at 
table, He took bread and blessed and broke 
and gave to them. And their eyes were 
opened and they knew Him. It was the 
Lord. And He vanished out of their sight. 
And they said one to the other: "Was not 
our heart burning within us, whilst He spoke 
in the way, and opened to us the Scriptures ? " 
And rising up the same hour, they hurried 
back to Jerusalem to tell the Apostles. 



ALIVE AGAIN 209 

The Apostles, all but Thomas, were eating 
supper when Cleophas and his companion 
burst into the room, saying breathlessly, " The 
Lord is risen; He is alive, and we have both 
seen and spoken with Him." Then followed 
a repetition of the morning's scene, when 
Mary first brought the news, — with the 
Apostles all crowding round and talking at 
once. So Cleophas had to tell the whole 
story. And while the Apostles all stood 
about, and held their breath and listened, he 
told them of the meeting in the way, of the 
account that he had given of the crucifixion, 
of the explanation of the Scripture that Jesus 
had given, and of the sitting down to table. 
"And as we were at table," he was saying, 
" Jesus took bread and blessed and broke, and 
gave unto us; and," — but he stopped sud- 
denly, and looked before him in blank amaze- 
ment; for there, just outside the circle of 
Apostles, was Jesus Himself listening to him. 

How Jesus had got into the room or where 
He came from, no one could tell ; for the 
doors and windows were all shut. Con- 
cluding, therefore, that He was an apparition, 



210 THE DIVINE STORY 

the Apostles began to shake with fear. But, 
as they were thus fearing and thinking within 
themselves, He said, " Peace be unto you." 
And showing them His hands and feet, He 
said, " Touch Me and see that it is I Myself ; 
for a spirit hath not flesh and bone as you 
see Me to have." And after they had all 
come forward and made the test by putting 
their trembling fingers into the holes made by 
the nails, He sat down to table with them, 
and ate what they had, — a broiled fish and 
a g honeycomb. And then He went on to 
talk to them about the Promise and how it 
had all been fulfilled in Him. 

After He had thus spoken to them for a 
long time, He arose and again said, " Peace 
be unto you." Then He said solemnly, " As 
the Father hath sent Me, so also I send you ; 
and coming forward, He passed from one to 
another, and laid His hands upon their heads, 
and breathed upon them, saying, " Receive 
ye the Holy Ghost ; whose sins you shall for- 
give they are forgiven them : and whose sins 
you shall retain, they are retained." 

There could be no mistaking the meaning 



ALIVE AGAIN 211 

of His words. They were too plain. He 
was conferring on the Apostles the power of 
forgiving sins. And this the Apostles un- 
derstood ; and as they listened to His words, 
and felt His hands upon their head, and His 
warm breath upon their brow, their thoughts 
went back to the numberless ways in which 
He had prepared them for this hour, — 
to the occasions when He Himself had 
forgiven sins, and to the day at Caesarea- 
Philippi, when He had said, " I will give to 
thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; 
and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, 
it shall be bound also in heaven ; and what- 
soever thou shalt loose on earth it shall be 
loosed also in heaven." And as they were 
thus thinking and marvelling within them- 
selves, He vanished from their sight. 



CHAPTER XXXI 



THE RISEN LIFE 



Thomas, one of the Twelve, had not been 
with the Apostles at the time of our Lord's 
visit to the Upper Room. When, therefore, 
he returned, they all crowded round him and 
told him about it. But he would not believe. 
" No," he said, after listening to their story, 
" you must be mistaken ; it was only an appa- 
rition." And when they strove all the more 
eagerly to convince him that it was the Lord, 
with the marks of the crucifixion still in 
His hands and feet, he said, "You may 
believe it if you wish, but I cannot. And 
unless I see Him with my own eyes, and un- 
less I put my fingers into the print of the 
nails, and my hand into the place where His 
side was pierced, I will never believe." So, 
finding it was useless to try to convince him 
further, they said confidently, " Very well, 
wait and you will see Him for yourself." 

212 



THE RISEN LIFE 213 

That was Sunday night. And all the next 
day, Monday, they waited in expectancy; but 
Jesus did not come. Neither did He come 
on Tuesday, nor Wednesday, nor all that 
week. And they were not a little disap- 
pointed and cast down. But the following 
Sunday night, — it was the eighth after His 
resurrection, — He came. 

They were all seated in the Upper Room, 
the doors being shut, when of a sudden He 
stood in the midst of them, uttering the 
familiar words, " Peace be unto you." And 
before they could realize His presence, He 
had turned to the doubting Apostle and 
said, " Come, Thomas, and put thy finger 
hither and see My hands ; and reach hither 
thy hand and put it into My side : and be not 
faithless, but believing." And while they all 
sat, as if riveted to their seats, poor Thomas 
went forward to make the test. Fearfully 
he put his trembling finger into the open 
wound ; and as he sensed the warm and liv- 
ing flesh, a great tide of perfect faith swept 
over him, and falling down at the Master's 
feet, he cried, "My Lord and My God." 



214 THE DIVINE STORY 

Jesus said unto him, " Because thou hast 
seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed ; 
blessed are they that have not seen and 
have believed." 

After that, for forty days, Jesus continued 
to visit His disciples. For the most part, 
these visits took place in Galilee; either 
beside the lake, or along the country roads, 
or upon the wooded hills He loved so well : 
though a few, especially at the close, took 
place in Jerusalem. As a rule, nothing was 
known beforehand as to when, or where, He 
would come : but a solitary disciple walking 
along the country road in the early morning, 
would suddenly find Jesus walking by his 
side ; or a group of Apostles, fishing on the 
lake would, of a sudden, discern Him stand- 
ing on the shore ; or a multitude, gathered 
on a mountain side, would find Him, all at 
once, standing in the midst of them. But 
whether to many or to few, or whether 
beside the hillside or the lake, or whether 
in the morning or in the evening, His com- 
ings and goings were always startling and 
full of mystery. For though He bore upon 



THE RISEN LIFE 21$ 

His body the marks of His crucifixion, and 
though He still ate and drank at table 
as of old, and though He still spoke in 
sweet, familiar accents of things long passed 
away, yet He was no longer quite the same. 
His body which before had been of this 
earth and mortal, was now spiritual and glo- 
rified, passing through solid walls as easily 
as through open doors, and going as quick 
as thought from one place to another, and 
taking its visible shape out of the invisible, 
shapeless air. 

Notwithstanding this difference, however, 
He was as sweet and loving as of old ; and 
they used to gather around Him when He 
came, and listen to His words, as to one 
who had but gone on a brief journey and 
returned to them again. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

CONCLUDING LABORS 

During the period of the risen life, our 
Lord's work consisted, for the most part, in 
endowing the Apostles with special powers, 
or in making clear to them the truths which 
they had but vaguely grasped while He had 
been with them in human flesh. The follow- 
ing is a typical instance of His method. 

One night, shortly after the Apostles' re- 
turn to Galilee, Peter and Thomas and 
Bartholomew, and James and John, and 
two other disciples went fishing on the 
lake. They cast their net, and worked as 
patiently and as hard as ever they had 
worked in all their lives, but without success. 
The morning dawned and they had taken 
nothing. Weary and disappointed, they drew 
in their nets and took up their oars and began 
to pull for the land, when a Man, whom 
they vaguely discerned in the dim light, 

216 



CONCLUDING LABORS 2\J 

standing on the shore, called out to them 
across the water, "What have you caught? " 
Resting on their oars, they shouted, " Noth- 
ing." " Cast your net on the right side of the 
boat and see what will happen," came back 
from the Stranger. Now they had been cast- 
ing their net on the right side of the ship 
all night long, and it seemed like a waste 
of effort to try again. But hating, as all 
fishermen do, to return empty-handed to the 
shore, they decided to follow His advice. 
So, stowing away their oars, they cast their 
net. And to their great joy, it began to fill 
immediately ; and when, after a few moments, 
they tried to draw it, they could not do so 
for the multitude of fishes it contained. 
Filled with wonder at the happening, John 
turned round and began to look thoughtfully 
in the direction of the Stranger, standing on 
the shore. Then like a flash, the truth came 
home to him, and he said, " It is the Lord." 
Instantly, on hearing that it was the Lord, 
some of the Apostles grabbed the oars, and 
began to row for the land, while others 
dragged the net through the water after them. 



218 THE DIVINE STORY 

But the impulsive Peter, impatient at the 
poor speed that was being made, jumped into 
the water (for he was almost naked), and 
began to swim ashore. 

Peter was the first to arrive on the beach ; 
and seeing a fire of coals burning, and a fish 
laid upon it, and bread, and Jesus standing, he 
started to approach. But Jesus said, " Bring 
hither first of the fishes that you have 
caught." So he turned back, humiliated, and 
began to help the others to bring the net 
to land. Then he sat down with them and 
counted the fish, — one hundred and fifty- 
three ; and though there were so many, 
the net was not broken. When the fish 
had been counted, Jesus said, " Come and 
eat." And rising, without a word, they all 
came up the beach, and stretched their 
weary bodies around the fire. And Jesus 
went in and out among them, passing them 
bread and fish. 

When they had eaten, He came and sat 
down in their midst and began to speak to 
them about His Flock, — which was the word 
He had employed in the days of His mortal 



CONCLUDING LABORS 219 

life to indicate those who should believe in 
Him. Suddenly, in the midst of His talk, 
He turned abruptly to Peter and said, 
" Simon, Son of John, lovest thou Me more 
than these ? " Startled by the question, 
Peter stammered, " Yea, Lord, Thou know- 
est that I love Thee." Jesus said to him, 
"Feed My Lambs." Jesus said to him again, 
" Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me ? " Peter 
said to Him, "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest 
that I love Thee." He said to him, "Feed 
My Lambs." A third time Jesus said to 
him, " Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me ? " 
Now Peter was wounded that Jesus should 
say to him the third time, " lovest thou Me," 
for, in the threefold repetition, he saw, no 
doubt, a reference to his threefold denial. 
So he meekly answered, " Lord, Thou know- 
est all things; Thou knowest that I love 
Thee." He said to him, "Feed My 
Sheep." 

Feed My Lambs; Feed My Sheep. In- 
stantly, on hearing these words, the thoughts 
of the Apostles travelled back to that day 
at Caesarea-Philippi, when Jesus had said to 



220 THE DIVINE STORY 

Peter, " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock 
I will build My Church ; and to you I will 
give the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven." 
Often, in the days that had intervened, they 
had discussed those words; but never had 
they reached an understanding of them. But 
now they understood them ; and they knew 
that by them Peter had been given charge, 
not of the Lambs alone, that is, the ordinary 
faithful, but of the Sheep as well, that is, the 
teachers of religion, — that, in a word, Peter 
had been made the Chief Shepherd of the 
Flock of Christ, — the Head of the Church. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

THE RETURN TO HEAVEN 

By thus allowing the light of His resur- 
rection to shine for forty days on the won- 
drous truths of His mortal life, our Lord 
made the Apostles understand, as, otherwise, 
they never would have understood, that He 
had come to make known the truth about 
God and holiness, to die for sin, and to es- 
tablish a Church by which His teachings 
might be made known to all the world. 

It was not, however, till His final visit 
made to them in the Upper Room at Jeru- 
salem, that He gave them their divine com- 
mission to go forth and make known what 
they had learned. 

They were all gathered there by His ap- 
pointment, and were seated around the Sacred 
Table, on which the first Mass had been cel- 
ebrated, when, of a sudden, in a way now 
grown familiar to them, He appeared and 
took His place at their head. And after 
going over the different parts of the Great 



222 THE DIVINE STORY 

Promise, and showing them, for the last time, 
how it had all been perfectly fulfilled in 
Him, He stopped for a few moments, and 
looked earnestly upon them. Then, while 
they all sat gazing at Him, like men in a 
picture, He said solemnly, " Wait here in 
the city until the Holy Ghost shall descend 
upon you and endow you with the Spirit 
from on High. Then, go forth, and teach 
all nations whatsoever I have told you ; bap- 
tizing them in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And 
behold ! I am with you all days, even to the 
consummation of the world." 

When He had thus spoken, He arose and 
left the Upper Room, and went out of the 
city, and over the Mount of Olives ; the 
Apostles, in silent wonder, following. And 
so He led them until He came as far as 
Bethany. Here He stopped, and waited for 
them to come up and gather round Him. 
And lifting up His hands, He blessed them. 
And it came to pass, while He blessed them, 
He slowly ascended, and a cloud received 
Him out of their sight. 



THE RETURN TO HEAVEN 223 

And while they were gazing at Him going 
up to heaven, behold, two men stood by them 
in white garments : who said, " Ye men of 
Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? 
This Jesus who is taken up from you into 
heaven, shall so come as you have seen Him 
going into heaven." So they returned to 
Jerusalem with great joy. 

And when the appointed time arrived, and 
they were all together in the Upper Room, 
there suddenly came a sound from heaven, 
as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the 
whole house where they were sitting. And 
there appeared to them parted tongues, as it 
were of fire; and it sat upon every one of 
them ; and they were filled with the Holy 
Ghost. 

And, from that day, going forth, they made 
known to all the world the truths which they 
had received from Jesus, — truths which, 
through the Church founded on them, have 
been handed down to us, and by which we 
are made joint heirs with Christ unto life 
eternal. 

THE END 



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